Model 3 Track Day: Laguna Seca

[eSpiritIV]

Wow! Great! I'm glad that Tesla has figured this out through better cooling and the switch to the PM motor!

Thanks for your reporting!

Not just a PM motor, but a permanent magnet switched reluctance motor! First of its kind in production?

 

[sreams]

I am surprised you didn't hit power cut. I took my Tercedes B Class there two years ago, the car was basically in reduced power mode going up Rahal straight despite not overheating, not low on charge, not doing anything on the first lap! I even tried to skip all warm up laps and tried to power down from the hairpin, I was getting power cut at basically the same spot. I guess they tuned the ECU to limit power after about 45 sec of WOT. I wonder if the 2170 battery is differnet than the old ones?

I'm not sure the batteries were ever the issue with the S/X.

 

[e-FTW]

Awesome write up! Thanks for sharing!
Great news on the powertrain being able to sustain 9 laps! Some pretty hard uphill bits on that track, this is fantastic news.
Not entirely surprised by the brakes I guess. They are designed for a very different usage pattern, where most of the deceleration is done by the electric motor. Can't wait to see what the 3 can do on race pads!

@mattcrowley Your car looks great btw!

 

[mattcrowley]

Here [attached] is some track data in a CSV file. This is from a Samsung Galaxy S8+ running RaceChrono Pro sitting in the Model 3 phone mount.

***Please change the file extension from .txt to .csv, since this forum tool wouldn't allow me to upload a .csv file.***

 

[mattcrowley]

Awesome write up! Thanks for sharing!
Great news on the powertrain being able to sustain 9 laps! Some pretty hard uphill bits on that track, this is fantastic news.
Not entirely surprised by the brakes I guess. They are designed for a very different usage pattern, where most of the deceleration is done by the electric motor. Can't wait to see what the 3 can do on race pads!

@mattcrowley Your car looks great btw!

Yea, the brake pads are clearly picked for regen to take care of most of the work.

 

[EfficientWatts]

does the motor used for acceleration also used for regen? i have no idea how much heat/energy that will generate (probably less than propulsion i would guess).

also how well do you think regen will work in a track setting? it seems like regular regen + racing brake pads might be the ultimate setup, but could full regen affect track performance?

 

[mattcrowley]

does the motor used for acceleration also used for regen? i have no idea how much heat/energy that will generate (probably less than propulsion i would guess).

also how well do you think regen will work in a track setting? it seems like regular regen + racing brake pads might be the ultimate setup, but could full regen affect track performance?

Yes, the motor used for acceleration is also used for regen. The heat generation for the battery had been the question, since Model S/X have been an issue. However, today the Model 3 performed really well with respect to power and heat on the motor and battery. There is more to learn, but this was a good first step.

There is no 'track setting' that is public. Yea, the future performance brake pads/rotors we find...will make this car fun on the track. Suspension options will also help a lot. Full regen ("Standard") might impact the battery heat, but I didn't have enough laps in the brakes to test this. Next time.

 

[mattack4000]

There were definitely power limitation on the S model, I still remember a Model S struggling to get away from my old Leaf that had the same power control problem. Meanwhile the Focus EV kept pulling away from us due to not hitting the power limitation until a later lap.

I'm not sure the batteries were ever the issue with the S/X.

 

[Snow Drift]

I used to do HPDE days in my WRXs with Hawk HP+ pads, which are performance street pads. After a few hot laps they would fade. Then I upgraded to real track day pads from StopTech and they performed amazing.

Correction, Carbotech pads.

 

[juanmedina]

Correction, Carbotech pads.

Project mu... Lol

It varies car by car. I have project mu in my IS-F and did two track day at Road Atlanta and Atlanta Motorsport park and performed flawlessly. I use them for daily driving also and they are not noisy.

 

[Insight75]

Great write-up and detail here. Thank you for this. I also have a Blue M3 coming and after seeing pictures of yours, I'm so glad I went with it. I may need to get those wheels / springs in the near future. Great look.

 

[JADCa]

Good write up. I would also look into brake cooling. The 3 is designed to be very aero, so things like brake coolers which wouldn't be needed for 'normal' driving would be severely lacking for track use. My guess is the pads cooked and fell apart more than wore out in 4 laps.

 

[12Pack]

There were definitely power limitation on the S model, I still remember a Model S struggling to get away from my old Leaf that had the same power control problem. Meanwhile the Focus EV kept pulling away from us due to not hitting the power limitation until a later lap.

Not sure if it was the Model S/X per se or the fact that its a "P" model. I definitely had more of an issue when using ludicrous mode on a P100D compared to sport mode - so I put it down to the PEM overheating rather than the battery. On track you are basically foor down the whole time, either on the throttle or the brake, with a few moments of feathering in between....

From what I've heard you can't spin the wheels in a M3 on start - implying to me that its PEM doesn't quite put out the power that a P MS/X do.

 

[rtanov]

6) What is the ideal tire pressure?

Did you have a chance to get a feel of what would be a good tire pressure?

 

[mattack4000]

I don’t think anything is overheating, I think it is a safeguard they put in place. The tesla might not be as bad as other cars, but my tesla powered mercedes was doing it based on time spent at wot. It has nothing to do with actual temperature or soc

I could see the p model getting into more trouble due to the heat

Not sure if it was the Model S/X per se or the fact that its a "P" model. I definitely had more of an issue when using ludicrous mode on a P100D compared to sport mode - so I put it down to the PEM overheating rather than the battery. On track you are basically foor down the whole time, either on the throttle or the brake, with a few moments of feathering in between....

From what I've heard you can't spin the wheels in a M3 on start - implying to me that its PEM doesn't quite put out the power that a P MS/X do.

 

[mattcrowley]

Here is the video.

 

[stevesnow27]

I’m sure you turned off traction control but I was under the impression that you can’t turn off stability control without pulling a fuse or something. What did you do?

 

[VT_EE]

Here is the video.

Impressive! Thanks for posting

 

[mattcrowley]

I’m sure you turned off traction control but I was under the impression that you can’t turn off stability control without pulling a fuse or something. What did you do?

I was going to look for the fuse to pull later in the day, but as you can see...I didn't get to that test. It was good to leave everything on 'granny' mode, since the track wasn't really in great shape. At least three cars hit the wall yesterday with significant damage.

 

[VT_EE]

I was going to look for the fuse to pull later in the day, but as you can see...I didn't get to that test. It was good to leave everything on 'granny' mode, since the track wasn't really in great shape. At least three cars hit the wall yesterday with significant damage.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I read Tesla didn't include any fuses in this vehicle. They used MOSFET-based, electronically-controlled "circuit breakers" instead. Disabling the traction control is now more complicated.