The Model S has a ~7% larger battery but weighs only 2,108 kg vs. the Taycan which is 2,870 kg - a 35% mass advantage and an around 42% energy density advantage (!).
Lower weight should be a significant advantage on the Nürburgring - but I believe the Model S will require Track Mode to take full advantage of it, which would:
- make use of dynamic air suspension to help cornering or at least to stiffen up the suspension,
- allow the car to slip a bit when exiting corners - there's over 150 corners on the Nürburgring,
- increase the regen rate, this both helps keep the friction brakes cooler, and keeps the state of charge higher, plus gives less cooling workload to the cooling system,
- temporarily allow higher power to the motors, if the thermal sensors allow it,
- over-chill the battery pack and the rest of the powertrain when there's excess cooling capacity, in anticipation of bigger pulses of thermal load,
- other track driving tricks, such as assisting two feet brake+accelerator pedal driving.
Tesla could do a
lot to improve stock Raven Model S track performance - the hardware side is mostly there: the brakes are good, the center of gravity is low, polar momentum of rotation is low, the suspension can be stiff, drag coefficient is low, and the raw powertrain performance is there, the thermal system presumably got upgraded with Raven, the rest is Track Mode software.
If everything works out then I can see the Model S beating the best ever 4 door sedan lap time on the Nürburgring - which is the "2019 Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S" with a record lap time of 7:25.41, if I googled it correctly. There's another website that lists the 2016 version at 7:10, but that might not be street legal to sell anymore. The Taycan achieved a best lap time of 7:42.
Those are the levels to approach and eventually to beat.
