Tow mode
But unfortunately i don't believe track mode and tow mode are compatible right now, so you'd lose that motor and battery cooling if you turn it on. Hopefully future versions of track mode allow keeping the brakes off for cool down.
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Vendor Track Day Guide for Beginner and Experienced Model 3 Owners
- Thread starter MountainPass
- Start date
Tow mode
But unfortunately i don't believe track mode and tow mode are compatible right now, so you'd lose that motor and battery cooling if you turn it on. Hopefully future versions of track mode allow keeping the brakes off for cool down.
Lucky13
Member
Tow mode
But unfortunately i don't believe track mode and tow mode are compatible right now, so you'd lose that motor and battery cooling if you turn it on. Hopefully future versions of track mode allow keeping the brakes off for cool down.
I guess it's good my car doesn't have track mode yet.....not
Zcd1
Active Member
Hmmm, good point, but I wonder if letting the car go into "Hold" mode would keep it in place on level ground WITHOUT engaging the parking brake?
Ideally, you will spend enough time cooling the brakes off on the track. If you see them smoking when you pull into your parking spot, you should continue driving around the pits until they cool more. The auto-parking brake is definitely a problem. If you have the creep setting turned off you can chock the wheels so it won't roll away, but advising people to leave the car in drive seems unwise.
Lucky13
Member
usofrob
Member
If you get out of the seat, i believe.
It does, i've tried. Tow mode is the best bet if your brakes are still hot when you stop, but as Mountain Pass mentioned it's definitely best to cool on track. Only downside to Tow mode is it doesn't work with Track Mode or when charging - oh and you should probably be on flat ground where you won't roll away
I typically do a good cool down lap and then try to drive around the paddock a little before stopping to let my brakes cool down some more, but tow mode is the only real option for ensuring the parking brake doesn't engage.
If you get out of the seat, i believe.
It does, i've tried. Tow mode is the best bet if your brakes are still hot when you stop, but as Mountain Pass mentioned it's definitely best to cool on track. Only downside to Tow mode is it doesn't work with Track Mode or when charging - oh and you should probably be on flat ground where you won't roll away
I typically do a good cool down lap and then try to drive around the paddock a little before stopping to let my brakes cool down some more, but tow mode is the only real option for ensuring the parking brake doesn't engage.
The other way to go into neutral is to hold the stalk slightly above drive/below reverse for about 5 seconds. However if you get out of the seat it will shift into park
Interesting thread and it's got me thinking about how Model 3 (in particular) might work on track days in the UK.
The biggest question for me is how much track time an owner would get out of the battery.
Here in the UK, the charger network is in its early days and just looking at a few tracks local to me shows that charging at the track itself is going to be difficult if not impossible in most cases.
So I'm interested to find out what sort of range you've got from a Model 3 Performance when driving on track, so I can see if it's really viable to use on a track day without charging between sessions.
The biggest question for me is how much track time an owner would get out of the battery.
Here in the UK, the charger network is in its early days and just looking at a few tracks local to me shows that charging at the track itself is going to be difficult if not impossible in most cases.
So I'm interested to find out what sort of range you've got from a Model 3 Performance when driving on track, so I can see if it's really viable to use on a track day without charging between sessions.
I did a quick survey of circuits I would normally visit and most of them don't even have public 50kW or faster chargers within a few miles of the track, let alone within them.
As an example, from my house to my two closest tracks, I'd have to drive around 60 miles just to get there, so that's going to take a lot of my initial charge just to get there and back. I could plan a route in one case to visit a supercharger on the way, but it would still leave me 34 miles to get to the circuit, so 68 miles off my total range effectively.
In all the cases I've looked at, it would be quite difficult from a time and logistics POV to fit the charging in with the actual track day.
So building in travel there and back I'd get maybe 30 minutes on track in an M3P?
I suppose if we wanted to grow demand for EV enthusiasts to do trackdays we're going to have to convince the venues to install chargers?
As an example, from my house to my two closest tracks, I'd have to drive around 60 miles just to get there, so that's going to take a lot of my initial charge just to get there and back. I could plan a route in one case to visit a supercharger on the way, but it would still leave me 34 miles to get to the circuit, so 68 miles off my total range effectively.
In all the cases I've looked at, it would be quite difficult from a time and logistics POV to fit the charging in with the actual track day.
So building in travel there and back I'd get maybe 30 minutes on track in an M3P?
I suppose if we wanted to grow demand for EV enthusiasts to do trackdays we're going to have to convince the venues to install chargers?
It's worth checking with the individual tracks to see if they have high amperage outlets available. I'm not sure what type they are in the UK, but here in the US, they're the 14-50 outlets (50A), and can add up to around 35 miles per hour of charge.
In the UK, the equivalent to a 14-50 only provides about 20 miles per hour of charge. I just don't see that being practical, especially as 20 'normal' miles probably equates to maybe 4 or 5 'track' miles.
What's the incentive for tracks to spend the money doing that? Would they make money from the power supplied?
I guess there needs to be a critical mass of EV owners wanting to track their cars before circuit owners will think it's worth it?
It's one of those business propositions where timing is all important but I do think when the M3 comes to the UK in large numbers we could find there will be enough demand to make it viable. One thing in it's favour is the fact that we have very strict noise restrictions at almost every track, so EVs really should be encouraged in every way!
It's one of those business propositions where timing is all important but I do think when the M3 comes to the UK in large numbers we could find there will be enough demand to make it viable. One thing in it's favour is the fact that we have very strict noise restrictions at almost every track, so EVs really should be encouraged in every way!
Yup, but since Tesla has already made over 150K Model 3's i think we will rapidly get to that point (within a year or two).
Good point! Laguna Seca in California also has noise restrictions, so EV's have that going for them which is nice
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