Track Day with the Model 3

[jamesgo]

Sounds like you basically had the same experience that I did (inc 210km/h top speed,), nice to see the upgraded springs/sway bar did it's work. But yeah, its the brakes that just give up way way way to early.

It's quite amazing how quick it can go through the battery on a track and the performance drop off being so hard.

I think if you were wanting to have a s track day you'd have to massively upgrade the brakes (fluid, pads, discs), some nice semis-slicks also do the suspension/sway as you did and make sure you have a ultra fast charger close by.

I guess that, or go buy a Porsche Taycan

 

[Maximillan]

I think if you were wanting to have a s track day you'd have to massively upgrade the brakes (fluid, pads, discs), some nice semis-slicks also do the suspension/sway as you did and make sure you have a ultra fast charger close by.

This. Running out of brakes after just two laps kills the fun and the confidence on a track day. You always want to have that confidence that when you're exploring how late you can brake and that you'll actually get the retardation you're after.

I also found the tyre pressure observations interesting. On my track car I run 28 psi cold (it weighs half of model 3) which seems way too low for the road, but it results in the best lap times, so interesting to see similar results.

 

[Culfy]

Write up after Sandown yesterday, videos still yet to be sorted and uploaded.

Session 1- 9:30 AM : Battery 90%+; tyre pressure - 36psi cold (way too high). 50/50 split. ESP- 0. Best Lap : 1:33:8

TM3P is a great track car. It was very hot yesterday with temperature already at 32 by 9:30 AM. As I hadn't done track day in a long long time, I was put in group A. The first session was really good as the car around the track. Plenty of poke and overtook most of the cars in Lap 1(except a pesky Mustang GT which was modded). What I didn't do was let down the tires and was still doing laps at 38 cold (which is way too high). Regen was on at 100% for the first couple of laps and the battery got very hot very fast. Took the regen down to 50% for the next 2 laps and on the second lap, the brakes were almost cooked. Ended the 6 lap session at 65% battery. tyre pressure was 42 when I checked at the end of session 1.

Session 2: 10:45 AM: Battery 66%; tyre pressure - 38 hot (still too high). 40/60 split ESP at -3. Best Lap : 1:35.1

Started the session with regen at 0. Great first lap, that pesky Mustang was behind me now and making up places real quick. Second Lap, the brakes completely faded and I went off the track at Turn 1 and the already way too high curb banged on the battery.. came back to paddock to check for any damage (couldn't see any) so went back out. Regen on and 40/60 front back split with stability control at -2. Ended this session with 30% battery left and all drivetrain components warm/hot.

Took a break and went down to EVIE charger. Maxed out the charging at 190kw/h went up to 90 in about 26 mins (battery was already pretty warm so that might have helped).

Session 3: 12:45 PM. Battery 88%; tyre pressure - 34 hot. 40/60 split ESP at -10. Best Lap 1:31.4

This was the best session by far mainly due to battery being high enough and got some tyre pressure tips from one of the other crews running a different Mustang. Regen was on for the first 2 laps and then off for the remainder of the laps. Brakes were pretty much useless after lap 4. The rear motor was already orange while on the out lap, second lap got the best time of the day. third lap spun and damn nearly crashed into the wall at the last corner. Took it easy the rest of the lap and put one more lap before the brakes were gone. Lap 5 was a leisure lap. Battery at the end of the session was down to 62%.

Session 4: 2:15 PM Battery 55% tyre pressure - 32 hot. 40/60 split ESP at -10 Bet Lap : 1:34.8

Battery was slightly orange on the out lap. Got one good lap with regen at 100% and then it was done. Tried to do better in the next couple of laps, there was no punch above 80k, even though the acc pedal was flat to the floor. Brakes held up ok for 2 laps and then the same. Battery was 30% at the end of the session. So thought it was hot enough and I'd get no more out of the car / brakes.

Positives:

• Unplugged performance springs + upgrades sway bars are awesome for throwing it around the track.
• Almost kept up with modded Mustang on semi slicks for 2 laps & beat a couple of stripped out 86s / mx5s and pulsar sss.
• Tyres held up relatively well (if I had good tyre pressure management would've been better)
• Surprisingly quick even with ESP turned off.
• Got a lot of people looking asking questions on how it did.
• Topped out at 210 on the back straight in Session 1.

Negatives:

• It was too hot to run regen at 100% but the brakes would fade away in 2 laps so had no choice.
• Brakes were utterly uninspiring in fact I couldn't push the car as much as I could due to lack of confidence in brakes (especially after going off track in session 2).
• Performance when battery is below 60% is just *sugar* & it gets worse as the battery gets warm and low in charge.
• While Pirelli P Zero was good enough, stickier tyres would get better lap times.
• Brakes
• Brakes
• Brakes

That's super handy. I have the bend tomorrow so will lower cold tyre pressures to 36 to start with. It'll be 29 degrees so I guess heat will be a similar issue. I will see what I can do to manage it, the brakes going off seems to be a theme, though, so I'd rather have a hot motor than no brakes. I'll be easing it up anyway so maybe a cooldown lap here and there might help? It's a voyage of discovery. Odd, I used to throw a VX SS around Mallala without a major issue with brakes (other than they wore). 200kg lighter but no regen. Tomorrow is the West track so 3.4km with a good few straight bits to get some cooling happening. And a V3 Supercharger 1km away! I've currently got a bung arm too, so I'll have a good excuse to not throw it around too hard. How did the power steering cope? The Model S apparently can't deal with corners?
You didn't mention that regen unsettled the car like others have said. Did it feel any different?

 

[jamesgo]

Powersteering is fine, the seats with their lack of side bolsters give up before the steering does so you don't be doing much aggressive cornering as you don't have the lateral support.

As for regen on/off, to be honest, no real difference in the dry, I assume in the wet you'd notice it more. Hopefully with the straights your brakes will cool, but also it'll chew through the battery hard (luckily you have that V3 close by).

You'll be quick on the first lap, but it laps after that. I did a bunch of cool laps but yeah the issue is I think that the car is designed for aero efficiency so the brakes don't have a good cooling duct so they don't get much cooling air on the slow laps.

 

[race4life81]

That's super handy. I have the bend tomorrow so will lower cold tyre pressures to 36 to start with. It'll be 29 degrees so I guess heat will be a similar issue. I will see what I can do to manage it, the brakes going off seems to be a theme, though, so I'd rather have a hot motor than no brakes. I'll be easing it up anyway so maybe a cooldown lap here and there might help? It's a voyage of discovery. Odd, I used to throw a VX SS around Mallala without a major issue with brakes (other than they wore). 200kg lighter but no regen. Tomorrow is the West track so 3.4km with a good few straight bits to get some cooling happening. And a V3 Supercharger 1km away! I've currently got a bung arm too, so I'll have a good excuse to not throw it around too hard. How did the power steering cope? The Model S apparently can't deal with corners?
You didn't mention that regen unsettled the car like others have said. Did it feel any different?

36 cold is way too high IMHO. I'd start with 26-28 (30 max) cold.. that will be about 34-36 hot after 1 session. Ideally you should be no more than 32 hot (as my experience in 1 day). Power Steering is going to be fine (in sport mode).

Brakes are a bit of a PITA for sure. Unless you have the lowered suspension (unplugged or similar) you will feel the car very spongy (depending on how bumpy the track is). Regen might be actually really good on track (on a cold day at least). V3 supercharger being super close is awesome. You will find significant drop in perf below 55-60%.

 

[race4life81]

Sounds like you basically had the same experience that I did (inc 210km/h top speed,), nice to see the upgraded springs/sway bar did it's work. But yeah, its the brakes that just give up way way way to early.

It's quite amazing how quick it can go through the battery on a track and the performance drop off being so hard.

I think if you were wanting to have a s track day you'd have to massively upgrade the brakes (fluid, pads, discs), some nice semis-slicks also do the suspension/sway as you did and make sure you have a ultra fast charger close by.

I guess that, or go buy a Porsche Taycan

ha ha no Porsche Taycan for me ..If I had Porsche Taycan kinda money, I'd probably get a GT3 or similar.. There was a Gt3Cup at Sandown and he was flying around the track, I timed it at 1:08 and the braking point was pretty much 50m before the apex instead of 180-200m & something about using a proper 6 speed manual is just ...

 

[Culfy]

36 cold is way too high IMHO. I'd start with 26-28 (30 max) cold.. that will be about 34-36 hot after 1 session. Ideally you should be no more than 32 hot (as my experience in 1 day). Power Steering is going to be fine (in sport mode).

Brakes are a bit of a PITA for sure. Unless you have the lowered suspension (unplugged or similar) you will feel the car very spongy (depending on how bumpy the track is). Regen might be actually really good on track (on a cold day at least). V3 supercharger being super close is awesome. You will find significant drop in perf below 55-60%.

Cool, will lower the pressure a bit more then. The Shahins have of course, put an OTR there (where the Superchargers are) which is handy to change pressures! I was concerned with the stretched sidewalls low pressures wouldn't be a good thing, especially if I hop over a kerb. I'll see how it goes. Don't really want bent rims.

 

[Culfy]

another track run with an M3P. He runs 39/45 psi hot on a 36 degree day?

 

[jamesgo]

So... funny clip. First they were in heavy traffic so the Porsche wasn't really going for it and also given the high battery level I assume it was a early lap in the day.

Also I think the Porsche driver was having fun through some of it given some of the braking points and corners.

 

[Culfy]

So... funny clip. First they were in heavy traffic so the Porsche wasn't really going for it and also given the high battery level I assume it was a early lap in the day.

Also I think the Porsche driver was having fun through some of it given some of the braking points and corners.

I wasn't really looking at the other car from a which one's faster kind of thing, just the 3 and the setup he had for it.

 

[Culfy]

Track day report: tl;dr it's amazing fun and fast but progressive. The car has more balls than me, I could have used it harder.
In 2 hours I managed 77km around The Bend West circuit, a 3.4km track, so about 20 laps.
I went to the supercharger 3 times with a total cost of $22.44. from a cost point of view that's the equivalent of 11.8 litres of fuel (98 is what you would run and that was $1.89.9 at the OTR at the bend). That equates to 15.2 l/100km. I went from 95% to 67% minimum
Performance wise... best lap I saw and recorded (without analysing the telemetry) was a 1:42.7. Top speed avoiding to the telemetry was 219.999993km/h. Apparently couldn't manage that last bit!
I ran 34psi on the front and 36 at the rear, which warmed up to 39/41psi.
Track mode settings first run: -8 STM, 35/65 drive split, regen 100%. AC off to reduce battery drain. After the first run I turned STM to -10 (off). I didn't notice it helping anyway and it would have been using the brakes.
The battery got hotter than the brakes but they definitely got bedded in! The battery was pretty much orange at the end of the warm up lap and was red for a lot of the run. Probably the regen setting.
The first run was characterised by very hot brake smelly. I ran out of brakes on the first lap but that was more a lack of talent than the brakes. The corner was much tighter than I expected, the tyres weren't up to temp and I went straight on (following the car in front, which was funny). I think some braided lines would be valuable, as would slotted discs. The feeling was that the brakes could have transferred more pressure to the disc. I didn't notice any worse than orange on brake or tyre temps on the display.
Regen was on 100% and the rear motor was pretty much orange whenever I was on track. This didn't seem to matter. I found it a little intrusive because I backed off for a corner before I wanted to brake but that's me needing to retrain myself how to drive.
Tyres held up really well (they were very chirpy). I can't tell that they wore but I'm sure they did. They were super sticky after the run. Unlike my SS that could get 2 track days out of a set I think this should be a lot better.
I didn't get legitimately passed by a faster car, I did get divebombed by a few cars while I was being slow waiting for a straight behind other cars. Which was silly, but I guess an mx5 and 2 door non turbo Lancer doesn't get a chance to pass a Tesla often lol. Plus, without insurance in not really interested in having an argument with a $3k lancer. The straight saw it off anyway and that have me a chance to pass 5 cars in one straight!
Tyres were great, a little squirmy but super progressive and easy to catch when it had tiny hangs here and there. Minor brake upgrade, then a set of pilot sport cups on a set of 19s and I think it would be a weapon.
Next day is April the 25th on the east circuit.

 

[Moarsp33d]

Hey, I hope it's alright to bump this post! This was one of the few I could find referring to running a M3P at Sandown, so I thought I'd kick the conversation on if that's cool?

I have a 2021 M3P and have given it a two runs at Sandown now.

First time out: Totally stock, PS4S 40 degrees hot, best lap high 1:27s, brakes totally cooked (pads cracked)
Echoing similar experiences here - Was generally pulling approx. 1:30 laps while fully charged. Brakes were straight up dangerous after a couple of laps, though it was a constant balancing act between leaving regen turned up to get a couple more laps out of them vs cooking the battery/motor/power output!

Second time out: Add Carbotech XP8 pads, PS4S 40 degrees hot, best lap 1:25.8, brakes definitely still need work... but better!
This time, after every session I'd head to the fast charger, then get on the 32A plug for a trickle before heading out >95% every time. The Carbotech XP8 pads last much longer, though could definitely still do with a major upgrade! First run of the day I was in a rush, so had tyres at 40 cold and track mode with -10 DSC and no regen. Brown pants time when the brakes ran out Most fast laps were around 1:27-1:29 given the constant thermal juggling, though I did get timed at a 1:25.8, which looked to put the M3P in pretty reasonable company!

I'm interested in people's thoughts re: what to change to get some better times without overly compromising the car for road. Clearly adding braking thermal capacity will be the key to lap time consistency. I'm looking at getting braided lines/high temp fluid and slotted rotors for this, though can't quite justify the cost for full carbon/big brake kit.

Beyond that, there's pretty serious body roll and the tyres are clearly working hard! I'm thinking MPP sports coilovers and a set of Pilot cup 2 255/35/20 will likely yield another couple seconds. Then again at that point it might just make more sense to get a M2 Comp for track days .

Also 100% keen to get out to The Bend, possibly sometime in January, if anyone's keen to go for a run!

 

[Moarsp33d]

I've also just read properly and realised you were in a M3LR with Acceleration boost... which entirely explains the lap time differences. Mate, bashing around Sandown at speed on brakes smaller than the M3P is a brave move! haha

I was hitting just over 230 on the straights when not thermally limited, which i'm guessing is due to a combo of higher power output, as well as some ability to brake later and carry slightly more speed due to brakes/tyres

 

[jamesgo]

I could have probably gone a bit quicker but even after doing that back straight I was like.. well.. these aren't good brakes like i'm used to at the track (previous cars have been modded euro), so coming onto the front straight I probably hit 215 on my highest run but yeah that's where I was like.. yeah let's not hit that turn 1 sand trap. The accel boost and perf are supposedly quite similar once you're moving (it's a bit power limited at slow speeds) and I also have smaller wheel rims, but yeah you are right, if you were to do more track days the model3 needs a suspension and brakes upgrade. Also the seats are quite lacking in the corners whcih I guess you felt as well.

I have to admit I was super pleased to find those 32A sockets. I was in the parking lot thinking.. hmm.. I wonder if they're powered and was quite happy when I realised they were. I also did a few trips to that Evie for a Ultra Fast and got red rooster from across the road while I was waiting cause the battery really doesn't last long on the track.

I think the car would be good a phillip island where you've got some slower corners to use the EV advantage but you really need a ultra fast charger and there are none down there. The issue with Sandown its a power track so heavy full acceleration and heavy braking and it's not the Tesla's sweet spot. I have to admit I came out of the track day quite disappointed with how slow the car was. 3.x to 100km/h is great but once you get above 150 km/h it looses it's puff compared to a petrol engine which is really still pulling hard, I can understand why Porsche did a two speed gearbox.

Also I guess you noticed it as well but at high battery level acceleration is good, once the battery drops though, it has a decent impact on top end acceleration.

About EV vs Petrol though, if we had garage space and the wife allowed me, I think a nice second hand euro with some mods would do well, those BMW 3L can put out a lot of power with some easy mods. That said i've got a full motorbike license but the wife said no until our son hits high school, which is a bit of a issue given he's a toddler.