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Over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, many Americans watched auto racing and attended automotive enthusiast events. The Indy 500 was held, the largest single-day sporting event in the world with over 300,000 live spectators. And, while the death of Kyle Busch put an emotional damper on the event and mother nature ended it with rain, NASCAR’s Coca Cola 600 also had around 100,000 fans in attendance. In addition, many classic car shows were held throughout the country. I heard some people doubting if EV’s could provide the same level of excitement and enthusiasm.
That reminded me of my recent trip to China. My friend, Daniel Romero, of Road Trip Reviews, invited me and Riz Akhtar, of carloop, The Driven and Ludicrous Feed to a nearby racetrack to check out some custom cars from his friend Black Ma and a track event sponsored by BitAuto.
Photo by Larry Evans
First up was the Tesla Model 3 LL. This Model 3 Performance was stretched to 6.1 meters long, but it isn’t just a show car. The car is used for drifting demonstrations with three rows of passengers. I was even able to drive this car around the track. Despite the stretched body, it handled surprisingly well. I quickly forgot about the length and started focusing more on my driving lines. The level of performance was impressive, likely a bit terrifying for the people riding behind me. Black Ma has also stretched a more “practical” Wuling Mini, but it was not there at the track. However, there is no real practical reason for these cars to exist, but I am glad they do.
