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

Took the 3 to the dragstrip to try it out.

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.

timk225

Active Member
Mar 24, 2016
2,139
2,483
Pittsburgh
My 3 has 1700 miles on it, so it was time to take it to the dragstrip and get my own real world times and speeds. I'm a bit on the fat side, so putting me and the 3 on a scale showed 4200 pounds racing weight.

Went out to Keystone Raceway (pittsburghracewaypark.com) last night for a test-n-tune night. As usual, there were more Rustangs and Camarslows than you can shake a stick at, (I've always been a Chrysler person) :) but there were some fast Audis and Cadillacs there too. I was the only Tesla there.

I got there with 280 miles range on the battery, and did 3 runs during the evening. Each run burned 4 miles off the range estimate. Overall, it ran what I expected. 60 foot times were a bit soft at 2.25 for each run, but once it gets over 20 mph or so, the electric motor really takes off and pulls hard. Being an electric, and because the car gives a warning alert when touching the gas and brake at the same time, you can't really brake torque it on the starting line.

My previous car, an '11 Challenger R/T automatic, ran consistent 13.6's @ 103, and would always 60 foot in the 2.0's, even a 1.969 on one occasion.

Times and speeds for 3 runs were 13.56, 13.58, and 13.60, at 105.1, 103.9, and 103.5 . Averaging 13.58 @ 104.1 .

Through the 3 runs, all times and speeds were extremely consistent past the 1/8 mile, with only slight drops in the times and speeds at the 1000 foot and 1/4 mile traps on the 2nd and 3rd runs.

I had a few people come by and ask all about the car, but I was expecting more attention than I got.

I had gotten my center hub and lug nut cap kit the day of the race, so they were on the car, no Aero hubcaps.

It'll be nice to see what kind of 1/4 mile numbers the AWD and Performance versions of the car get, if we have car owners with enough dragstrip experience to do it right.
 
My 3 has 1700 miles on it, so it was time to take it to the dragstrip and get my own real world times and speeds. I'm a bit on the fat side, so putting me and the 3 on a scale showed 4200 pounds racing weight.

Went out to Keystone Raceway (pittsburghracewaypark.com) last night for a test-n-tune night. As usual, there were more Rustangs and Camarslows than you can shake a stick at, (I've always been a Chrysler person) :) but there were some fast Audis and Cadillacs there too. I was the only Tesla there.

I got there with 280 miles range on the battery, and did 3 runs during the evening. Each run burned 4 miles off the range estimate. Overall, it ran what I expected. 60 foot times were a bit soft at 2.25 for each run, but once it gets over 20 mph or so, the electric motor really takes off and pulls hard. Being an electric, and because the car gives a warning alert when touching the gas and brake at the same time, you can't really brake torque it on the starting line.

My previous car, an '11 Challenger R/T automatic, ran consistent 13.6's @ 103, and would always 60 foot in the 2.0's, even a 1.969 on one occasion.

Times and speeds for 3 runs were 13.56, 13.58, and 13.60, at 105.1, 103.9, and 103.5 . Averaging 13.58 @ 104.1 .

Through the 3 runs, all times and speeds were extremely consistent past the 1/8 mile, with only slight drops in the times and speeds at the 1000 foot and 1/4 mile traps on the 2nd and 3rd runs.

I had a few people come by and ask all about the car, but I was expecting more attention than I got.

I had gotten my center hub and lug nut cap kit the day of the race, so they were on the car, no Aero hubcaps.

It'll be nice to see what kind of 1/4 mile numbers the AWD and Performance versions of the car get, if we have car owners with enough dragstrip experience to do it right.

Do you have the 0-60 mph times by any chance with the latest firmware?
 
  • Like
Reactions: PoitNarf
What's the latest update version, and will it show me 0-60 on the screen in the car? My car has update version 8.1 2018.18.13 6a8a06e .

My 1/8 mile times and speeds were 8.82, 8.82, and 8.83 at 83.5, 83.5, and 83.4 mph, so whatever you can discern from that. That's the closest numbers I can give.
 
What's the latest update version, and will it show me 0-60 on the screen in the car? My car has update version 8.1 2018.18.13 6a8a06e .

My 1/8 mile times and speeds were 8.82, 8.82, and 8.83 at 83.5, 83.5, and 83.4 mph, so whatever you can discern from that. That's the closest numbers I can give.

The reason I ask is in another thread there's speculation that Tesla has slowed some cars down, but so far there's been no measured evidence.

Not on the screen, but if you had a vbox or something. Brooks from DragTimes clocked 4.66 seconds with a warmed up battery. People's numbers seem all over the place. Looking for more data points.
 
Most ICE vehicles will note a DA (Density Altitude) correction on their time sheets. This is so your results can be compared to performance on another day, or at another track. Same thing with dyno runs.

This means that ICE vehicles will have different performance levels depending on weather conditions. Never an issue with a Tesla. Will run the same at 5,ooo ft. as at sea level.

ICE vehicles (unless turbo/supercharged) can loose up to 20% of their power, just by being higher in altitude, or in less dense air.
 
What's the latest update version, and will it show me 0-60 on the screen in the car? My car has update version 8.1 2018.18.13 6a8a06e .

My 1/8 mile times and speeds were 8.82, 8.82, and 8.83 at 83.5, 83.5, and 83.4 mph, so whatever you can discern from that. That's the closest numbers I can give.
Let's see:
mile/8 is 201 meters

2d = at*t
2*201 / (t*t) = a
Using t = 8.4,
a = 5.7 m/s^2 or about 0.58 G

I think you better work on your reflexes.
 
Most ICE vehicles will note a DA (Density Altitude) correction on their time sheets. This is so your results can be compared to performance on another day, or at another track. Same thing with dyno runs.

This means that ICE vehicles will have different performance levels depending on weather conditions. Never an issue with a Tesla. Will run the same at 5,ooo ft. as at sea level.

ICE vehicles (unless turbo/supercharged) can loose up to 20% of their power, just by being higher in altitude, or in less dense air.
shouldn't an electric car be faster at higher altitudes and thinner air? Less resistance.
 
  • Like
  • Informative
Reactions: chinnam3 and evp
Sounds like it held its own ok.

so is it more fun dragging the Model 3 or the challenger?

It was more fun running the 3. It's new, an unknown, and a 4 door EV. Everyone expects a Challenger R/T to be fast.

The biggest surprise to me was the off the line performance. It's known that electric motors can make full power from zero rpms, but in this case, the car takes off nicely, but really starts to go after about 20 mph or so, kind of similar to turbo lag in a 4 cylinder turbocharged car. My guess is that the controller isn't programmed to dump full amps to the motor at zero or very low rpms, and only gives it full power at a higher speed.
 
...My guess is that the controller isn't programmed to dump full amps to the motor at zero or very low rpms, and only gives it full power at a higher speed.
The performance is constrained by the torque limit at 475Nm. That is why the acceleration of power (kW/s) is linear until it the car reaches the max power limit of 250kW. (Or maybe reaches the BackEMF motor limit. Hard to tell without a quarter mile sample.)

upload_2018-5-27_6-4-14.png
 
Last edited:
It was more fun running the 3. It's new, an unknown, and a 4 door EV. Everyone expects a Challenger R/T to be fast.

The biggest surprise to me was the off the line performance. It's known that electric motors can make full power from zero rpms, but in this case, the car takes off nicely, but really starts to go after about 20 mph or so, kind of similar to turbo lag in a 4 cylinder turbocharged car. My guess is that the controller isn't programmed to dump full amps to the motor at zero or very low rpms, and only gives it full power at a higher speed.
My guess is it has something to do with the switched reluctance design. The cogs (right word?) on the rotor experience reduced torque when they are in between the stator magnetic poles (torque ripple). Word has it that Tesla inserted permanent magnets between these poles to help pull the rotor through these dead zones. Once the motor is spinning at a high enough speed, interia takes care of this problem and you’re at full power. Just my theory.
 
Congrats! :D
Mid 13's at 103 is what others are posting as well. If your car has the latest flash, there was no 'nerf'. Folks normally are getting 2.2x sixties.

Time slips might have the DA and a naturally aspirated correct factor in the header or footer, but the time/speed information is not corrected on the slip. Why? Supercharged, Nitrous, and Naturally Aspired all have different correction factors. The tower doesn't know what's under your hood. I've run from Bandimere (slow) to HRP (fast), but my home track was (RIP) LACR. I normally run at and tune for high DA.
 
My guess is that the controller isn't programmed to dump full amps to the motor at zero or very low rpms, and only gives it full power at a higher speed

I can believe this, let the tires get a little grip before dumping full power onto them.. if so, I wonder how much that restraint will be tamed out of the AWD and Performance models..
 
Is it correct to say that the torque is pretty constant, while the motor increases RPM from 0 to maximum over ~ 3 seconds ?

I don't think off-the line torque on the PMSR motors is the maximum torque the motor can put out. The switched reluctance design limits the torque at zero and low RPM. Once the motor is moving some, you can feel that torque increases, right around 20 MPH.
It looks pretty constant to me but I never bet against the smartest guy in the room. Until we get CANBus data on the 3 RWD it is going to be hard to see what is happening in that first quarter second. That linear acceleration of power is the constant torque (probably artificially low) setting. At that 20 mph point that SomeJoe7777 points out either max power limit is reached or the BackEMF limits of the motor are reached. We need a quarter mile run to know better.
 
Last edited:
What is the best launch mode? Just floor it? Can you floor it in neutral and then drop into drive? I assume slip mode doesn't slip on tacky pavement?

I tried using the Slip Start to go through the burnout box, but it doesn't really turn off the traction control all the way, so burnouts were kind of weak. In my '11 Challenger R/T I used to have, just pressing the button to turn off traction control turns it off part way, but not all the way, you'd have to hold the button down for about 5 seconds to really get it turned off all the way. A different mode.

On the starting line, for my first and third runs I would barely be touching the brake, then release it and hit the gas pedal (electric pedal?) to the floor when it was time to begin the run. For my second run, I tried holding the brake on a bit, and putting the gas pedal to the floor on the starting line, at which point the screen pops up the warning of both pedals being pressed and the car doesn't move, then just releasing the brakes to begin the run. The timeslips showed no advantage either way.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: bhzmark
I tried using the Slip Start to go through the burnout box, but it doesn't really turn off the traction control all the way, so burnouts were kind of weak. In my '11 Challenger R/T I used to have, just pressing the button to turn off traction control turns it off part way, but not all the way, you'd have to hold the button down for about 5 seconds to really get it turned off all the way. A different mode.

On the starting line, for my first and third runs I would barely be touching the brake, then release it and hit the gas pedal (electric pedal?) to the floor when it was time to begin the run. For my second run, I tried holding the brake on a bit, and putting the gas pedal to the floor on the starting line, at which point the screen pops up the warning of both pedals being pressed and the car doesn't move, then just releasing the brakes to begin the run. The timeslips showed no advantage either way.
You could turn off creep and would not need the brake pedal at all, right?