Thursday, September 12, 2019

Tesla Model S Fastest Lap at Laguna Seca

FAST AND SILENT, SPACE AGE ON WHEELS.

Tesla to run rings around the powerful dunces of the old guard

Tesla announces Model S with ‘Plaid powertrain’ and new ‘chassis prototype’

- Sep. 11th 2019 9:28 pm ET

Tesla announces that it has a Model S with a ‘Plaid powertrain’ and a new ‘chassis prototype’, which they used to break a record at the Laguna Seca racetrack.

Earlier today, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that they broke the fastest lap record for 4-door vehicles with a Model S at Laguna Seca racetrack, and they are going to release a video about it soon.

The automaker has now released the video, but we learn that the vehicle has been modified.

Tesla said that the Model S had a ‘Plaid powertrain’, which hints to a new powertrain above the ‘Ludicrous’ powertrain, and a new ‘chassis prototype’.

With this new version of the Model S, Tesla completed a 1:36.555 lap time – achieving a new record lap for a four-door sedan:

That’s a big improvement over the previous best time in a Tesla Model S P100D.

Last year, Tesla’s development team ended taking the Laguna Seca production EV record with a 1:43 time.

Tesla has yet to release any other details about the new powertrain or chassis nor any plan to make the new version of the Model S available to customers.

Update: Musk said that they will ‘soon’ release more details about the ‘Plaid powertrain’ and said it wll be offered for Model S, Model X and the new Roadster:

“Yes. To be clear, Plaid powertrain is about a year away from production & applies to S,X & Roadster, but not 3 or Y. Will cost more than our current offerings, but less than competitors.”

Previously, Musk said that Tesla was reserving the ‘Plaid mode’, which is a reference to Spaceballs like Tesla’s other performance modes, for the next-generation Roadster.

Electrek’s Take

That’s an interesting way to announce a new powertrain, or at the very least a new powertrain mode, especially after Elon said that there would be no other major upgrade to the Model S this year.

Since Elon previously said that ‘Plaid’ was for the Roadster, Tesla could be testing the new Roadster powertrain in the Model S, but I find this unlikely.

Either way, that’s an impressive time.

Although, I think Tesla might have stripped the interior a little because it sounds very loud inside the car on this video and that’s what happens when you strip the interior of a car.

It’s possible that this new ‘Plaid powertrain’ is just louder.

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Sep 11th 2019 at 5:56PM

Tesla Model S Nürburgring preparation 9

Following the reveal of the Porsche Taycan Turbo S, there was some buzz on Twitter about which would be faster on the Nürburgring: the Porsche, or something from Tesla. The Porsche Taycan Turbo S has already set a time of 7 minutes, 42 seconds, with the video to prove it. Tesla hasn't sent a car out for a lap yet, but head honcho Elon Musk tweeted that this will soon change, though likely not as soon as his initial tweet last week would imply.

It does look like the company is planning an attempt, as one of our spy photographers caught a team with a Tesla Model S near the Nürburgring doing some initial testing. The car they're testing is a Model S P100D, which makes sense since its 762 horsepower and 723 pound-feet of torque closely matches the Porsche's 750 horsepower and 774 pound-feet of torque.

This clearly isn't a stock Model S P100D, though. Up front, the lower grille opening has been enlarged, probably to improve cooling for the motors and batteries. It has subtle fender flares at each corner to house much wider wheels and tires. Our spy photographer says the tires were Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires, which are semi-slick competition tires that are street legal. At the back is a fairly pronounced lip spoiler.

While there's nothing wrong with running a modified car at the Nürburgring, the problem here is that the Porsche Taycan was driven in a stock form. And by modifying the car beyond stock form, Tesla can't really compare the Model S honestly or claim any sort of "victory" if it manages to get a faster time. There is the possibility that Tesla will start offering wider tires and a revised fascia as part of a new performance package, and that would change things a bit. The thing is, it probably wouldn't want to offer the tires it's using here, since they wear fast and don't have good wet grip. These are tires meant for lapping tracks and autocross courses in dry conditions.

It will still be interesting to see what happens with Tesla's 'Ring attempt. Hopefully it'll consider doing a more stock run. We're also curious to see if F1 racer Nico Rosberg will do the lap, as he offered on Twitter.

Just remember not to take lap times too seriously.