Tuesday, September 17, 2019

TESLA'S WIDE BODY TRIDENT PLAID NUKES 19-SECONDS (7.23-MIN.) OVER TAYCAN'S 7.42-MIN RECORD OF AUGUST, 26TH.

Taycan's shortlived 7.42-Min. record of August, 26 has been hacked to 7.23-Min. today, 2019.9.17 by Teslas new wide body, which can be widened further.

Tesla Model S Laps The Nürburgring In 7:23 — Crushing The Porsche Taycan

September 17th, 2019 by Dr. Maximilian Holland

A Tesla Model S prototype currently testing at the Nürburgring Nordschleife has been informally timed lapping the circuit in 7:23. The stopwatch timing was made by a correspondent of the German publication Auto Motor und Sport. The Tesla did have have the advantage of using race compound tires, but that doesn’t account for the almost 20 second advantage over the Porsche Taycan’s publicized lap time (7:42). The Tesla also looks to have the potential to surpass the track performance of every gasoline saloon, save limited production specials from Jaguar and BMW.

Note that this is not the ultimate lap time that the Tesla Model S will achieve on the Nordschleife circuit, just an interim report of an informal time recorded by an experienced observer. Auto Motor und Sport reports that the tires used in recent testing appear to be race compound Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires. Note the R suffix for “Race.”

For its timed lap, the Porsche Taycan is reported to have been fitted with road-biased sports tires (either Goodyear Eagle F1s or Pirelli P-Zeros, according to Porsche, via Jalopnik). Porsche has also used Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires (no -R suffix) for timed laps in the past (e.g., on the 918 Spyder). How many seconds per lap are the race compound tires worth?

Michelin itself says that the race compound gives a 0.5 second per km advantage around the Nordschleife, over the road-biased (and less expensive) variant. Given the ~20 km length, this then would amount to an aggregate 10 second advantage from the stickier race compound. Whilst they are street legal, such tires are rarely fitted to mass production vehicles since they wear faster and have different noise and wet-grip characteristics compared to a road-biased sports tire.

Even discounting this 10 second tire advantage, where is the Tesla’s “additional” 10 seconds of performance over the Taycan coming from? Likely from additional power from the 3 motor “Plaid powertrain” setup and sophisticated track mode software.

If we roll back the race compound tire advantage to level the playing field, assuming a lap time of 7:33 on road tires, not only will the Tesla Model S beat the Taycan “Turbo S,” but it also has the potential to be the fastest (prototype) production saloon — of any powertrain — on the Nordschleife, and most other circuits. It will have to improve to 7:32 to match the Nordschleife lap time of the Alfa Romeo Giulia QV, set back in 2016, but that will very likely happen over the coming weeks of testing.

There are a couple of limited production run specials from Jaguar (XE SV Project 8) and BMW (M4 GTS) that can lap the Nordschleife in 7 minutes and 20-something seconds. Both have aggressive aero and racing-style rear wings, and only a few hundred of each were ever produced. Unlike the Model S and the Taycan, these are typically not counted as true “production cars” by the Nordschleife faithful.

Aside from these, the next fastest saloons are the Porsche Panamera Turbo (7:38) and the BMW M5 (7:39), a good bit behind the (smaller and lighter) Alfa Giulia, but faster than the Taycan, mainly due to having a higher top speed.

Nevertheless, let’s not assume the combustion car manufacturers will be happy to settle for 2nd place. If the Model S’s final lap time does indeed take the production saloon record, you can bet that BMW, Alfa Romeo, and Porsche will all be planning upgrades to their existing sports sedans, ready around the time the Model S “Plaid” goes on sale next year. In the longer term, the performance dominance of EV powertrains is assured (and both the Taycan’s lap time and Model S’s lap time are already astonishing for such a new technology). Nonetheless, combustion makers will not be ready to cede the performance crown just yet.

I’d expect the Model S’s final lap time to come in at close to 7:20 on the race compound tires (or 7:30 on road compound sport tires). We’ll know more in the coming weeks. Elon Musk has said that Tesla expects the production version (coming October/November 2020) to be faster still:

Please jump into the comments with your lap time estimates and other thoughts.

Has Tesla Smashed Porsche's Nürburgring Record with Its Monster Model S?

One observer hand-timed a lap nearly 20 seconds faster than Porsche's published time for the Taycan.

By DANIEL PUND

SEP 17, 2019

Chris Doane Automotive, PorscheCar and Driver

An observer at the Nürburgring Nordeschleife has apparently captured hand-timed lap of the Tesla Model S that's 20 seconds faster than that of the Porsche Taycan.
The two 'Ring Model Ss wear flared fenders, hyper-aggressive tires, a big rear spoiler and "P100D +" badges.
With some suggestion that Porsche might have another card up its sleeve, it's clear we haven't heard the last of this grudge match yet.

The Tesla-versus-Porsche saga continues, with the unsubstantiated claim that a specially prepared Model S has clocked a lap of the Nürburgring Nordschleife almost 20 seconds faster than the Porsche Taycan’s feat of 7:42.

German magazine Auto Motor und Sport says it’s spoken with someone who hand-timed a lap of the Model S at the ‘Ring at a blistering 7:23. So far, there’s been no Twitter-based boast from one Mr. Musk on the issue.

The two Model Ss at the ‘Ring are clearly not like ones that you can currently buy. Their wheel wells bulge to contain huge wheels and tires. Oh, and those tires, according to snapshots from the track, appear to be hyper-aggressive Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 Rs. The car also wears what appears to be a hastily applied plastic extension to the Model S’s modest rear spoiler. Their badges read “Model S P100D +” and are widely assumed to be running a three-motor system (two motors on the rear axle) in place of the standard car’s single front and single rear motors. This looks very much like cheating. And it may well be. On the other hand, there are no rules to this particular game, since there is no sanctioning body to police such matters.

Did a Tesla Model S Really Set a Lap Record?

Elon Musk says that Tesla will offer such a configuration, called "Plaid," for the general public next year. If so, it might be fair to call whatever official lap time results from this a production-car record. Seems pretty unlikely, though, that many Tesla buyers would opt for the barely-road-legal track tires fitted to the test car.

It’s worth noting that technically Porsche ran its Taycan lap before that model was even unveiled. It wore camouflage during its record run. Porsche now says that the record-setting Taycan was actually a Turbo model and the not the Turbo S model that a Porsche spokesperson said it was. So is it possible that Porsche might have an even faster time in its pocket.

Porsche Might Have a Faster Time up Its Sleeve

Porsche Set Nürburging Record With a Taycan Turbo

Auto Motor und Sport also reports that Tesla has enlisted the services of two sports-car racing pros, Thomas Mutsch and Andreas Simonsen, along with Swedish driver Carl Rydquist to do the driving duties. Tesla apparently turned down one-time Formula 1 world champion and burgeoning Internet troll, Nico Rosberg, who publicly offered to run the ‘Ring laps.