Hello TMC! My team and I have just purchased our Model 3 performance which will be used in testing over the next 3 months to build a Tesla Rally school near Yosemite Park, on a 1,900-acre parcel of land. We're in the very beginning phases, and have a strong engineering team put together. My question, does anyone have any experience with off-roading in track mode? There's a bunch of articles/videos exploring the car in the snow, but we've yet to find much in the dirt.
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Model 3 Off-Road Rally Car Prototype
- Thread starter evpark
- Start date
Off roading...does the battery pack flex enough to deal with torsion forces on carriage? I wonder same thing with the CybrTruck that I put deposit on. Also, Yosemite can be 100+ degrees in summer and negative in winter. Not necessarily ideal circumstances for battery efficiency. Can you quickly replace battery pack?
webbah
Active Member
Exactly, I’d be worried about the glass roof during flex. It’s been known to crack under pressure.
We're working on the first pass of suspension mod's, currently at a 3" lift, with 18-inch rims. And we're using the word "rally" as it's off-road, but the surface will be very smooth. Think road track with less grip and plenty of room to slide around. As the throttle is used to "steer" in turning, our prelim testing shows less battery deg than on the track. Check out Tesla Corsa, they're doing some really cool things on track. But to your point, yea that's gonna be a problem for sure. The park is host to all things EV, mountain bikes/motorcycles/ATV's, so we'll adjust accordingly with the Teslas when we get there 
. We're building a really cool Tesla Truck course as well. Thanks!
. We're building a really cool Tesla Truck course as well. Thanks!
Kilotango74
Active Member
I think one of your challenges with the Performance is going to be to kill the inherent understeer. You can turn all the electronics off by disconnecting a wheel speed sensor, which helps to get the tail out, but then it get very snappy.
In track mode, you can steer the car on the throttle to a certain extent, but when there is very little grip and traction available, it still reverts to a 'safe' mode and understeer sets in again. I'm interested to see if you can tune this out with suspension or tyres even.
I think you might have been better using a RWD model. Is there an over-riding reason you wanted to use the AWD?
In track mode, you can steer the car on the throttle to a certain extent, but when there is very little grip and traction available, it still reverts to a 'safe' mode and understeer sets in again. I'm interested to see if you can tune this out with suspension or tyres even.
I think you might have been better using a RWD model. Is there an over-riding reason you wanted to use the AWD?
Also a concern, but the terrain will be VERY smooth-nearly tarmac smooth for the rally component. This is the best video to show how it will look by RoadShow. Check it out around the 7 minute mark where he engages track mode. That surface is what ours will look like, only without the snow
Great question! Track mode has been primarily tested in the snow, where there is very little grip. We're super excited to see what happens with the right dirt compound to provide a bit more grip. And the full tech explanation to your question can be found at the bottom of the page on the Tesla Rally page of our website. We have a full 3 months of testing that starts on the 14th, and won't be purchasing the fleet until we've worked through all of this. And here's an article from Popular Mechanics on the Model 3 as a rally car: Tesla Model 3 Snow Driving | Is the Tesla Model 3 a Good Rally Car?
So you don’t have zoning approval yet for your new business? And what are your plans to provide DC fast charging at your future facility?
Note: your website doesn’t work well on mobile. In iOS Safari on an iPad, many of the site pages are cut off on the sides. Here is an example.
Note: your website doesn’t work well on mobile. In iOS Safari on an iPad, many of the site pages are cut off on the sides. Here is an example.
Thanks, we know. We just got that up in WIX, in the process of getting it dialed in...sorry. And we are just getting started with zoning, among many other things. The county has been supportive in the overall concept, but we have a bunch of hurdles to get through. We've also had some great feedback and support from Tesla locally. As far as superchargers, we're working on it...great question. We'll have a rally school, but also many other ways to participate in a less "committed" way, like Tesla Games and Playtime. Our backgrounds are in racing, and this car is an engineering marvel for what we are about to do. But as it's never been done before, we have lots to learn and we're about to have some serious fun figuring it out
Keep the questions coming!!!
Glad to hear it. Your customers are going to be using energy at really high Wh/mi levels driving hard on dirt roads (I would guess 1,000Wh/mi or more). AC Level 2 charging is not going to be useful in that scenario; too slow.
It's been something the town has been working on as well, as the only one there is for customers of a business. Roughly 3.5 million people pass through Mariposa to Yosemite, and we're happy to host the chargers for all to use. We'll have around 12 on the property, 5 Model X's for Yosemite Park Rally's, and the Model 3's for offroading.
Yes, I’m aware that Tesla has planned a Supercharger at Mariposa for some time now, but no progress has been made yet. See Supercharger — Mariposa (exact location not found, shown as “Target opening in 2019") .
There are two Tesla HPCs (16kW AC Level 2 chargers) at a bed & breakfast business in Mariposa, but they are only for customers.
Have you contacted Tesla about having Superchargers on your property?
Not sure what you mean by “We'll have around 12 on the property”. Do you mean Tesla cars, or Tesla Superchargers?
Wouldn't it be great to have both! We'll have 5 Tesla Model X's (six-seat config) for guided day tours to Yosemite, led by a Model S. And currently we're slated for 7 Model 3's. 4 dedicated to the rally school, and 3 for Tesla Games and Playtime (open access through the park).
We have not contacted Tesla (corporate) yet, we're waiting till we've made progress with the county. And we contacted Autopark, yes only customers have access to their chargers. Do you visit the park often?
We'll have 5 Tesla Model X's (six-seat config) for guided day tours to Yosemite, led by a Model S. And currently we're slated for 7 Model 3's. 4 dedicated to the rally school, and 3 for Tesla Games and Playtime (open access through the park). We have not contacted Tesla (corporate) yet, we're waiting till we've made progress with the county. And we contacted Autopark, yes only customers have access to their chargers. Do you visit the park often?
Okay. My point in linking to the Mariposa Supercharger thread was that Tesla has been trying to find a location in the Mariposa area for a Supercharger for a few years now but have not been able to. One of the issues is very limited space in the town. It sounds like you have a lot of land available, and of course you will need Supercharger access for your customers. It would be a win/win.
I’m not sure what the reference to “Autopark” signifies*. You had posted:
I thought by “the only one there” you meant the two Tesla HPCs at the Yosemite Plasiance Bed & Breakfast in Mariposa.
I do visit Yosemite National Park every year. Charging inside the park can be difficult; there Is only one Tesla HPC and one J1772 at the Ahwahnee Hotel and they are heavily used. There is one other J1772 in Yosemite Village but it is often blocked by other cars. I always charge at either the Groveland or Fish Camp Supercharger before driving into the park. I have written to the Park Superintendent about the lack of EV charging in the park and received a reply, basically “We’re working on it”.
* EDIT: by “Autopark” did you mean Autocamp, a new business in Midpines (near Mariposa)? See Yosemite Glamping in Airstreams and Canvas Tents | AutoCamp The Tesla website shows that there are three 8kW Tesla HPCs at that location, for customers only. The Autocamp website makes no mention of the chargers.
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• We'd found that thread, and have been doing some research from the county archives, and yes the location has been a challenge. A proposal was put forth in 2015, but did not happen. In the attached photo you can see one entrance to our property, by the airport (the hwy 49 marker).The entire parcel runs 5 miles along hwy 49. That section to the right of the entrance is where we're offering the town space for whatever charging stations they like, along with Tesla. Again, we're just getting started and look forward to sharing this idea and many others for the residents of Mariposa over the next couple of months.
• I was referring to the AutoCamp Airstream park, sorry
•And thanks for the park feedback, that's where I was going, very helpful. Feel free to reach out and share this with anyone at the park, we're hoping to work together with this and possibly a charging station for their new electric buses.
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