Has anyone taken their Tesla onto the Sydney Motor Sport Park / Eastern Creek for a race day/night?

[Hairyman]

I'm using CANserver to log the data, TesLAX iOS app for in-car display of the relevant parameters, and self made software to assemble all of that into the blackbox movies. Every Tesla owner needs to have one of those: joshwardell/CANserver

There will be a web version of the video blackbox coming to market soon-ish, working on that atm. You upload a CANserver log, the video files, and hit go, and out comes a video like the one above.



That did cross my mind. Do you have any recommendations on the type of rims and tyres to use for that specific purpose? I can see myself doing that many more times...

Thanks!

 

[race4life81]

That did cross my mind. Do you have any recommendations on the type of rims and tyres to use for that specific purpose? I can see myself doing that many more times..

I would go for something race spec from Enkei if they make it for Tesla pattern ( which I think is the same pattern as MB/AMG). No more than 18/19s with Michelin Super Sport or Sport Cups or Bridgestone Potenza. (I haven't done track day in forever but definitely looking to get back into it once my Model 3 Perf is delivered). I would also look at the suspension components but yours being a model S might be a little too expensive to replace the suspension ..

 

[ZeeDoktor]

There is at least one replacement option for the TAS: 2020 Tesla Model S.

When talking racing rims/tyres though I'd consider going for something optimised for track only - i.e. no need to be street legal. Possibly just slicks? It's all about getting these 2.2 tons glued to the ground and being able to corner at >> 1G. Or so I think.

 

[race4life81]

There is at least one replacement option for the TAS: 2020 Tesla Model S.

When talking racing rims/tyres though I'd consider going for something optimised for track only - i.e. no need to be street legal. Possibly just slicks? It's all about getting these 2.2 tons glued to the ground and being able to corner at >> 1G. Or so I think.

Full slicks are gonna be super expensive.. semi slicks are good enough unless you are aiming to get every single second out of the car around a track. With slicks you would need tyre warmers, maintain enough pace to keep them operating in the right temp and too much headache. I have never used or driven a car with slicks so this is all theoretical knowledge that I have. Semi Slicks are super fun though, one of my mates had a Lotus with semi slicks and that car was just awesome around the track. He still does a lot of track days and does targa as well.

But then again, some of semi slicks aren't road legal (most of the states) so you would need to swap them before hand, get them aligned and get the car to the track on a truck or trailer. Sport Cup 2s or Super Sport (almost semi slicks but not really) should give you plenty of grip and still let you drive back home.

 

[ZeeDoktor]

very interesting, thanks for this! Are you talking about the Michelin Sport Cup / Super Sport? I thought the Pilot Sport 4S were the successor (and thus better from what I've read) than the Super Sports. You seem to say though the SC/SP tyres are semi slicks?

 

[race4life81]

very interesting, thanks for this! Are you talking about the Michelin Sport Cup / Super Sport? I thought the Pilot Sport 4S were the successor (and thus better from what I've read) than the Super Sports. You seem to say though the SC/SP tyres are semi slicks?

Yep PS4S is the successor for Super Sport. Sport Cup 2 are completely different to PS4S. Sport Cup 2 are the standard on most of the AMGs/M Cars/ Porsche so they are not semi slick, but are very close to semi slicks in terms on performance (they are road legal and do quite well on track). They do have considerably less lifespan than PS4S. I wouldn’t know what the semi slicks or slicks are now. Bridgestone and Pirelli also have similar pedigree tyres but I am not sure what they are called.

 

[jamesgo]

I used to see quite a few cars with Nitto NT05. I think price/performance they were good for semi-slicks. Not the best for street, i'd keep the Michellin's for that.

 

[YuriYulaev]

Come to the racetrack, they said. It will cure you of your need for speed, they said.

Now I'm hooked. That was a blast, and definitely to be repeated! Just processing the blackbox videos, will upload tonight. And when I do, please be kind. This was my first time ever on a racetrack at the tender age of almost 50... and while I'm definitely not driving like a granny, my lines are often less than ideal. I'm learning.

Some initial lessons for others who plan on doing this:
- Don't use Ludicrous+. That's for drag racing only (I could've figured that out beforehand but I didn't). The battery overheats in no time when driving a track. You want to start with a medium temp battery only (~30C) to get as much fun-time out of it as possible. Too cold it won't perform, too hot it'll power limit. I hit the long finish straight expecting to top out at 250km/h+, but only made it to 216km/h on my fastest attempt as the amber dashed arc appeared on top of the power graph.
- There are two 17kW destination chargers at the racetrack. I managed to put about 8% back into the battery between sessions, using about 20% battery per session. With 5 sessions yesterday that worked quite well arriving/starting with 100% battery and leaving with about 30%.
- Do set the the regen to low. Higher regen is of no practical use to save energy, and heats the battery more. Remember under the massive power demand, the battery heats up quickly. Very quickly!
- I had tyre squeal in all of the sharper turns once they were hot. I'm not sure why that is, talked to one of the Lotus pit team guys about it who wasn't sure what was going on either (he actually pointed it out to me). I have brand new PS4S tyres on it, alignment done at Tesla yesterday, pressures at 45-50psi (rising with temperature of course) so definitely not underinflated, but perhaps over? I noticed the centre tyre temperature was about 10C higher than the inside/outside which were about equal. That would hint at overinflated tyres. But I'm reluctant to go lower. Any of you race experts have a word of advice?

Hi, this is very good info! Is there anyway to cool down the battery between the sessions?