57-year-old Cessna 150 raced against a Tesla Model 3 in the North Carolina mountains to see which comes out on top
Published on Mar 16, 2026 at 1:16 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Mar 16, 2026 at 1:16 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
A YouTuber raced an old Cessna 150 against a Tesla Model 3 in North Carolina, and the result might surprise some people.
At first glance, the race might’ve looked a little one-sided, but it wasn’t.
And that’s for a few reasons.
Including some factors that people tend to forget when it comes to aviation.
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Racing a car and a plane makes more sense than we think
‘Car vs plane’ races aren’t unusual, and people probably love the idea because the result is never predictable.
A plane is almost always faster than a car, but that doesn’t automatically mean that it always wins in a race.
If we had to pick a reason, we’d say it’s because of ‘permission.’
In a car, you don’t really need permission from anyone as long as you stick to traffic rules.
In a plane, you need permission to take off and land, and you need permission for every inch of airspace you cover.
As a result, for every second you gain by virtue of the plane being faster, you end up losing two due to ‘bureaucracy,’ for lack of a better word.
And there’s more.
Unless the race is strictly airport-to-airport, the commute on either end eats up your lead – especially since public transport is generally slower than a private car.
In the race you’ll see here, YouTuber Fly Me To The Fun, which is a genius name for a YT channel, by the way, raced a Tesla Model 3 against a 57-year-old Cessna 150 in North Carolina.
And in addition to the aforementioned problems, there was something else they hadn’t considered.
In hindsight, the result of this Tesla vs Cessna race shouldn’t surprise us
The people behind the Fly Me To The Fun YouTube channel decided to race a Cessna 150 – a plane that’s inexpensive to run but also quite slow – from the 1960s and a Tesla Model 3 across 130 miles in the mountains in North Carolina.
The race had three rules: both had to refuel, both had to buy a snack, and the loser would have to eat a pickled sausage as the penalty.
That’s a strange penalty, but whatever floats their boat.
The Tesla driver was able to get in the lead immediately because the car just set off.
But the race didn’t start at an airport, which meant the pilot had to get himself to the airport on a scooter.
The next bit of the race was slow for both of them.
The pilot had to navigate over ridges and through valleys at 5,500 feet, but the driver had to negotiate turns, bends, and steep hills.
The Tesla was already in the lead, but it cemented the win as it approached the airport.
Although the Cessna 150 pilot took a direct aerial route, the time spent refueling and navigating airport traffic ultimately cost him the race.
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After beginning his automotive writing career at DriveTribe, Alessandro has been with Supercar Blondie since the launch of the website in 2022. In fact, he penned the very first article published on supercarblondie.com. He’s covered subjects from cars to aircraft, watches, and luxury yachts - and even crypto. He can largely be found heading up the site’s new-supercar and SBX coverage and being the first to bring our readers the news that they’re hungry for.
