Tesla Model S Plaid sets the production EV 'Ring record at 7:35.579:
Tesla's new tri-motor technological terror -- the Model S Plaid -- finally got its day at Germany's famed and feared Nurburgring Nordschleife. It managed to set the official production electric vehicle record while it was there -- even with that goofy steering yoke.
Elon Musk announced the record on his Twitter account on Thursday, and while the sheet of paper he posted shows two times, the official time that Nurburgring officials count is the slower of the two at 7:35.579, rather than 7:30.909.
Tesla posted a video of the run on Friday, and the Nurburgring posted the same video, but with onscreen telemetry. While neither of them looks (or sounds) very fast, that's kind of the reality of modern cars, especially modern electric cars.
Watch it on YouTube
(I count myself fortunate to have driven a lap around the Grand Prix section of the Nürburgring in September 1997 when I was working on a project for FIA. Fun times! --martyb).
(Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Sunday September 12 2021, @03:39PM (3 children)
"They've gone to plaid!"
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Touché) by looorg on Sunday September 12 2021, @03:44PM (2 children)
WE BREAK FOR NOBODY might have been even better?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 12 2021, @06:33PM
Or, WE DON’T BRAKE FOR EMERGENCY VEHICLES AND JERSEY BARRIERS. But, that's a bit long for a bumper sticker.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday September 12 2021, @11:20PM
I brake for hallucinations
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 12 2021, @07:56PM (4 children)
7:30 lights years per soccerpitch. And no, I don't give a fuck.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 12 2021, @11:42PM (3 children)
The units are standard for lap times in motorsports. Minutes:Seconds.Milliseconds
Nobody is forcing you to read or comment on the article. There are quite a few people here who are interested in cars and motorsports. If you aren't interested, read another story.
Even though this isn't directly about motorsports, racing is very relevant. Technology from motorsports can and does end up in street cars to improve safety, performance, or efficiency.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 13 2021, @01:42AM
All this quality information and yet... no fuck given.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Acabatag on Monday September 13 2021, @02:41AM (1 child)
Why are we using an obsolete time unit that isn't decimal? 60 minute? 60 seconds??? Isn't this the era of the Metric System? What's the SI unit for time and why isn't it based on a particular animal having ten fingers like all other scientific SI units?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 13 2021, @12:14PM
Decimal is horrible system. It's /only/ useful for science because it makes math easy, in every other regard it is inferior. Math is full of relics of tradition like that though, which is why so many hate it.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by fustakrakich on Sunday September 12 2021, @11:27PM (1 child)
The video gives you no idea how fast he's going, had to watch the speedometer, very impressive. And the sound, wonderful! to hear the tires instead of the motor, must give a real feel.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday September 13 2021, @08:27AM
Bet the Stig would have done it in under 7:20.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 12 2021, @11:38PM
It's 12.944 miles, so a lap time of 7:35.579 is an average speed of 102.28 mph. If I understand the data correctly, the top qualifying time for Nurburgring 24 Hours in 2020 was 8:57.884. It uses the combined circuit, which has a distance of 15.770 miles. Much of that distance is the Nordschleife, even though speeds aren't directly comparable. That works out to a speed of 105.55 to get that lap time. There are race cars that can certainly do faster much laps on the Nordschleife, but the lap time is still a pretty good pace, especially for an electric vehicle.
(Score: 2) by corey on Monday September 13 2021, @12:26PM (1 child)
I watched about half and I’m almost sweating. I saw the speedo at 283km/h at one point. Insane.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 13 2021, @11:54PM
Now watch the ID.R lap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rg_weJhssM [youtube.com] and then the Porsche 919 Evo(the 919 LMP1-H car taken as far as it can without needing to redesign the chassis, suspension, power unit etc) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQmSUHhP3ug [youtube.com]
I think the Tesla could shave off a couple of seconds by programming more for acceleration while sacrificing top speed, that's basically how the hybrids and full electrics produce their best lap times, especially on twisty tracks like the Nordschleife.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday September 13 2021, @01:40PM
The Tesla guys are geeks, so maybe they'd be amenable to including optional sound effects for when you accelerate in plaid mode, like a shadow scream [sa-matra.net] or a reaper arrival [youtu.be].
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 13 2021, @02:18PM (2 children)
It appears this wasn't a factory trim of the Model S Plaid, which I suppose doesn't matter much except it means that the car that set the record is not the same thing as the car someone rich and stupid enough to buy a Model S Plaid from the showroom gets. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a29089178/tesla-porsche-nurburgring-ev-record/ [caranddriver.com]
A few years ago the electric Porsche Taycan did way better than the 2016 Model S P85D in Car and Driver's lap testing because the Model S went into "overheated" mode quickly. https://www.caranddriver.com/features/g35279855/lightning-lap-2021-times-every-car-every-time/ [caranddriver.com] (it's a big page, search for Taycan or Tesla to see the relevant bits)
I don't know why I care, even if I had that kind of money I have better things to do with it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 14 2021, @01:47AM (1 child)
If you read Car and Driver a lot, you are probably already familiar with Tesla cheating to get their numbers. My favorite is their 0-60 time that isn't a real measure of the time it takes for them to go 0-60 and was done on surface treatment instead of track. It was so obvious they weren't sub 2 seconds but they couldn't help but try to sneak it by everyone.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 14 2021, @06:46PM
Car and Driver itself cheated its way to the forefront of auto enthusiast magazines by implementing a policy that 0-60 mph times start getting recorded after the car moves forward one foot. Since traction from a dead stop is a serious problem for cars with lots of power, that artificially reduced C&Ds 0-60 mph and standing quarter mile times compared to all other magazines. So when the Corvette, Mustang, and M3 enthusiasts were screaming at each other about performance they would use C&D to get their figures.
But no, I didn't know Tesla cheated. Thanks for the info.
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Monday September 13 2021, @07:03PM
Hardly a production car when you add $20k carbon ceramic brakes.