Factory Five BEV 818 Runs 9.8 Seconds at 129.6 MPH!

Last September, we told you about Chris Tapp’s 818 build. Chris at Tapp Auto in Ontario, Canada installed a Chevy Volt batteries with a Tesla S electric motor into a Factory Five 818C and ran a 10 second 1/4 mile. After updating the P85 engine of the Tesla sedan, Road & Track reports that Chris recently clicked off an amazing 9.869 second 1/4 mile at almost 130 MPH. Check out the video. Congrats Chris on this exceptional build!

Read the article on Road & Track’s website here.


Chris ran a 10.1 second 1/4 last year with the car still in red gel-coat. The car is now finished in a nice metallic silver.


Here’s the video of the 9.8 second run. The car is amazingly quiet as it sprints down the track.


Here’s the cockpit view of the same 9.8 second run.

You can see more videos on Chris’ YouTube channel.

Latest Factory Five News

Mark S. Graduates His Mk4 & Scores Magazine Cover!

Congratulations to customer Mark S. on graduating his Mk4 Roadster build! Mark came for a tour of Factory Five in March 2020 to meet Dave Smith and the team. After returning home to the United Kingdom, Mark ordered his Mk4, and it arrived at his garage in February 2021.  Marks good friend, neighbor, and fellow car enthusiast, Stuart H, helpedwith the build which featured a Gen 3 5.0L Coyote, Tremec TKO transmission, 8.8″ solid axle with 3-link rear suspension, 18″ Halibrand wheels, and of course, it had to be in right hand drive. Mark also had the chassis galvanised to…

Read More

Factory Five is Closed Today, Monday January 26, 2026.

I made the call to scrub FFR operations for the day. The drive in wasn’t bad, and most roads are clear. Unfortunately our plow crew was late, and the day dawned with 3-4′ drifts in the back parking lot! We will be at work and at full strength tomorrow. Sorry for any difficulties this may cause. Dave SmithPresident

Read More

Three Generations Embark on a Type 65 Coupe Dream Build

Dave Ryan’s Type 65 Coupe build is moving right along—and it’s become something even bigger along the way. In collaboration with Factory Five Racing, V6 Media is producing a short film documenting the build process. Recently, Dave’s father, Vaun Ryan, sat down to share his lifelong passion for performance cars and motorcycles—sparked as a young boy on the family farm in Utah, building a homemade go-kart powered by a hay-elevator motor. That curiosity for how things work turned into a lifetime of mechanical enthusiasm, passed down through generations and now culminating in Dave’s Type 65 Coupe build, which is a…

Read More
Top