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Assault & Battery guilty of breaking 1/4-mile drag racing record

In the case of "Assault & Battery" versus the Royal Purple Raceway, we find the defendant guilty of the breaking the record for the quickest quarter-mile in a door-slamming electric vehicle. Owned and operated by one Mr. John Metric – who just happens to be the current president of the National Electric Draging Racing Association (NEDRA) – the electrified 2002 Mazda Miata has scorched a path to the finish line in a scant 9.122 seconds at 145.16 miles per hour.

Although in slightly different classes (the star of LoneStar EV Racing slots in the Extreme Street (XS/A2) class), the achievement makes it quicker than the famed White Zombie, DC Plasma and Britain's batty V-dub Black Current. If you didn't know it, that's some pretty fast company.

Under the hood of this green machine, you'll find a pair of Zilla controllers pumping about 800 battery horsepower (BHP) and 1500 pound feet of torque from a pack of LiPo (lithium polymer) batteries into twinned Netgain Warp 9 serial DC motors. All that energy is fed to the rear end through a 2-speed Lenco transmission hooked to a set of Gear Vendor overdrive units, giving the car four different gear ratios to work with. Oh, and it also boasts reverse, so that's really like five gears.

Despite its serious racer looks, it would actually be street legal in Texas if it weren't for a lack of windshield wipers, which were removed to save weight. You can watch Assault & Battery lay waste to the track in a trio of videos we have waiting below. The first is the record run, the second is the slightly slower back up run and we've thrown in a bonus trip down the strip that's a tad slower, but beautifully shot. Enjoy!





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