Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Model S to the Nürburgring Next Week!

Would Elon Announce a Nürburgring Visit Without Already Knowing the S Would Beat the Taycan’s Time?


  • Total voters
    259
  • Poll closed .
This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
I guess we'll see next week.

BTW, many cars have actively damped suspensions these days. Just about any mid level luxury cars have it as standard or option. And they do work well. But suspension is only one piece of the puzzle. It's the whole package. Perhaps Tesla will surprise us...

Lastly, the Ring is a closely monitor track by enthusiast. If Tesla had tested on it, we would have heard it by now.

Tested on the SIM
 
  • Like
Reactions: Richt
The main difficulty people are talking about is just the overheat protection. That is, to protect something, if you want. Elon can definitely hack that protection even without actually overcoming it. So unless it catches fire before finishing the lap, I would expect model S to be faster than Taycan on the ring with all the protection turned off. Maybe have some after effect like shorter battery life, but who cares? Just go and break the record!


If the Model 3 can do 33 laps at Laguna, that tech is in the Raven S...then no...this is not an issue anymore.
 
Nah, I think it’s more a matter of braking and cornering. Taycan brakes are huge and track oriented and it can regen at something crazy like 200kw.

Model S is a big girl and her brakes are gonna roast halfway in even if the drivetrain can keep up.
they can surely just put different brakes on the S if that's an issue, and maybe avoid max performance so it doesn't thermally throttle
 
  • Funny
Reactions: ucmndd
Doesn't Model S has trouble sustaining high speed? Not sure if people understand how difficult it is to break the 8 minutes mark on the Ring, let along taking 20 seconds out of that. I have a hard time seeing how Model S can do it unless there is a special edition Model S with ceramic brakes, super wide tires, new suspensions, and cooling system.

That was driven by rotor heating on the induction motors. The PMSR front motor on the Ravens runs a lot cooler, and I believe can tolerate more heat as well. As far as we know the rear motor is still the same as before, so it'll be interesting to see how much the sustained performance has improved.

I don't think Elon would have announced that ahead of time unless he had good reason to believe it'd beat the Taycan's time.

There's nothing in the Tesla side driving the timing that we can see, no changes to the car that have been announced - but it is quite a coincidence that they're doing this right after Porsche boasted about their racing prowess and sustained performance if it isn't related...
 
Nah, I think it’s more a matter of braking and cornering. Taycan brakes are huge and track oriented and it can regen at something crazy like 200kw.

Model S is a big girl and her brakes are gonna roast halfway in even if the drivetrain can keep up.

EVs use regenerative power to slow far more than the brake rotors/pads. They weigh about the same. I'm not thinking this is a big difference.
 
Ring is not power only. It pushes a car's ability to accelerate, sustain speed, slow down, and handle. Look at the speed in the corners of any car that goes sub 7:50. That's not something any car can do if it's not designed for it.

Momentum is key to all racing. EVs have this weird new world where momentum can be programmed...that's never been possible before with ICE. If heat management is like the 3P, then momentum should be too. Hence my point above. Take a 3P and give it SP power: Taycan may be in trouble. All have low COG and massive torque.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wenkan
Why does it have to be a current production Tesla Model S ? Can't Tesla use Nurburgring to test developments of new models like all the other manufacturers do ?

Mostly because Tesla never gives deliberate public hints of new hardware until they're ready to take orders of it. That's a strategic decision on their part to avoid Osbourning and maximize free publicity.

Of course, it's possible that they do have new hardware and are ready for orders on it and we'll hear about it next week...
 
  • Like
Reactions: GSP
Why does it have to be a current production Tesla Model S ? Can't Tesla use Nurburgring to test developments of new models like all the other manufacturers do ?

Say, like Porsche just did? Last I checked, you can't buy a Taycan today. I would imagine we'll see at the least some software tweaks here, like Track Mode. Maybe even some simple performance upgrades that can be purchased right after the Ring run.
 
I am sure they will have coded a track mode for the Model S but beating a Porsche at their home turf, especially the ring, will be hard.
Now, if they brought the new roadster...

Agreed. But remember that the S has already won on most performance counts, including decisively on cost. If the S is even in the ballpark of the Taycan at the Ring, I'd count that as a positive development as it'd nuke the 'you can't track an S' narrative.
 
Momentum is key to all racing. EVs have this weird new world where momentum can be programmed...that's never been possible before with ICE. If heat management is like the 3P, then momentum should be too. Hence my point above. Take a 3P and give it SP power: Taycan may be in trouble. All have low COG and massive torque.

On a large oval like Daytona or Indy, sure. However, on a road course, it's more than that. The car needs to scrub off speed as fast as you can when you get to a slow corner. And it needs to put the power down as early as possible coming out of a turn. And it needs to maintain the momentum is sweeping corners as much as possible. A fast road course car is very different than a fast drag strip car, and very different than an oval car. Just look at Indy Car vs. F1. At Indy oval, Indy will likely lap a F1 car. But on the infield road course there, a F1 car will lap Indy Car easily. Going fast it's not just about simple numbers, it's a whole package optimized for the right applications.