Definitely not. Either you're unaware of all of the effects (like turning off additional safety features) of Track Mode, or you're discounting their safety impact significantly.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Track Mode m3p
- Thread starter Visionary
- Start date
roguenode
Member
I've found the extra regen is nice, particularly on long steep downhill canyon runs.
It's basic logic. Less restrictive control is not as safe. Take your car out in less than ideal conditions. Take a turn, and then do it again with track mode and see what happens. It's not complicated. Now you go, prove to me that it's just as safe and also prove why Tesla states it is for closed roads only. Are they just doing that for the lolz?Prove it - where is your data?
How often have you spun your TM3P in "track mode"? Have any statistically valid observations on others spinning?
Or where in How Track Mode Works explanation does it provide theoretical justification of why TM is "less safe"?
Or did you just made this all up?
a
You are adding wear and tear to your car for no reason. Extra regen, maxing out battery cooling etc. (and possibly setting yourself up for being denied warranty fixes) Don't tell me that track mode makes your car more fun to drive to work.
What do you mean by beneficial? More fun? Yes for sure. As safe/controlled? No.
Yup. I turn track mode on (for goofing off) when I WANT it to spin more.
Perry
Active Member
You'll have to charge several times. Your range will drop to 60 miles and that is 100 to 0 SOC so you won't be able to use all that 60 mile range since you might not have a charger on site. So you'll use 40 or so miles per charge. Assuming your sessions are longer than that you will have to recharge probably twice per track day.
Perry
Active Member
I speak only from my own experience driving in track mode 100% of the time since its release. I have not noticed anything being less safe and I went in thinking otherwise from what I've been told. Maybe I drive differently than others but I have tried to push it to the limits with the specific intent to get the car into trouble and test its limits in controlled environments. I have not seen the car put me in any more danger than normal so for me I trust what I observe more than Tesla's marketing nomenclature and lawyer disclaimers. For me track mode is extremely safe on the road and will continue to use it every day at least until they a la carte the regen and cooling parts out.
I love the aggressive regen and extra cooling which the car sorely needs on account it constantly overheats on my daily drives up the mountains. With Track Mode on, I finally have a proper performance the car that can keep up with what I put it through. Of course you all can continue to fear the "Track Mode" Bogeyman and do what Tesla recommends if you want.
Perry
Active Member
Definitely. As I mentioned this exact specific case in my previous post. The car overheats like a steam engine when driving uphill aggressively (i.e. mountain roads). Then it starts huffing and puffing like a beat up ICE car as it takes all your acceleration away, killing the enjoyment. To get the power back you have to stay parked for about 5-6 minutes on the side of the road to wait for the dreaded dots to go away. Once back on the road, it only takes another 2 minutes and your back to the same place. Every 2 minutes of driving you have to let the car catch its breath. This is the normal mode or what I call the "ludicrously gimped" mode. I have a thread about this: Could Tesla be power limiting P3D?
Then on the way down the mountain its not any better and feels quite unsafe. The regen is not strong enough for one pedal driving. With Track Mode it is perfect as the more aggressive regen gives you that great stable sticky feeling around the turns.
Last edited:
I have resisted replying so far but here's my opinion.
1. Track mode is good for easing up on the stability controls, relaxing the thermal safety limits of the drive train and will allow you to spin the car if you push it too far or hit a low traction surface.
2. Running track mode daily will require replacing parts more often. DU, Battery and cooling system are all taxed more heavily.
3. Those who want to drive race speeds should join us on the race track.
4. When considering someones opinion regarding race speeds, its good to consider their experience, and prior posts. Are they experienced on the track? Do other experienced members agree with their view point?
5. If you're running so hard on the street that you need track mode you are endangering the public. Posting about it adds to the evidence in case you do hurt someone.
6. Its unknown the warranty effects of constantly running track mode. Likely depends how many times you break stuff going race speeds and expect service to fix it free under warranty.
1. Track mode is good for easing up on the stability controls, relaxing the thermal safety limits of the drive train and will allow you to spin the car if you push it too far or hit a low traction surface.
2. Running track mode daily will require replacing parts more often. DU, Battery and cooling system are all taxed more heavily.
3. Those who want to drive race speeds should join us on the race track.
4. When considering someones opinion regarding race speeds, its good to consider their experience, and prior posts. Are they experienced on the track? Do other experienced members agree with their view point?
5. If you're running so hard on the street that you need track mode you are endangering the public. Posting about it adds to the evidence in case you do hurt someone.
6. Its unknown the warranty effects of constantly running track mode. Likely depends how many times you break stuff going race speeds and expect service to fix it free under warranty.
I'm not saying Tesla will do it, but if you show up needing a new cooling system or with a burnt out motor and they see that you run track mode 90% of the time they would definitely be within rights to deny the claim.
Thank you for spelling out the crux of an argument against fast cars made by the general public - if a car is fast(-er), it must be more dangerous.
Allow me to retort - hogwash!
Better handling cars, with a wider performance envelope (performance tires, larger non-facing brakes, balanced handling, track-mode TC, etc), are fundamentally safer than a shitbox on wheels.
Why?
Because, all things being equal, I will be able to avoid an accident with an emergency lance change, braking, or accelerating out of trouble better than a shitbox. All the time, every-time.
And so will the Tesla autopilot (for those who panic, or don't know how to react in an emergency) - autopilot will save your ass more effectively in a better handling car in a marginal situation where it would only mange to slow down before hittign something. All the time, every-time.
Oh, but wait a second, a Ralph Nader clone would retort, if you KNOW you have a better car, you will enjoy it more, and drive faster, and THAT extra speed might make you less safe !??
$@#%^ yeah!
That's the point of paying for a quality performance car - I can have more fun driving it, and it will still be safer and more capable of avoiding accidents 90+% of the time.
Unless the driver is thoroughly incompetent, drunk, or drives like a d%ick.
In the above three cases, the vehicle he/she is driving does not matter. That person will find a way to get into an accident in any car, sooner or later.
If you still disagree and think "speed kills", then please act on your conviction and run, don't walk, to trade your Tesla in for a slow(-er) and thus allegedly safe(-er) Nissan Leaf.
Cheers!
a
paranoidroid
Member
I don't think anyone said anything about speed. We're talking about stability controls. In the situation you're describing leaving stability control to the default can actually save your life. Do you think you can react as quickly as the car's stability systems in keeping the vehicle under control in a rapid move, high speed, high stress situation? Not even close.
Track Mode will loosen the stability controls. As Alan said "The envelope is expanded so you're able to get yourself in a worse situation." I don't think you've pushed it to the limits to really understand what this means - I have, many times. As I mentioned, take your car to a local autocross event and run with Track Mode. If you don't have previous HPDE or autocross experience I bet you will spin your car, and not even with a particularly high speed maneuver either.
If I'm ever in a situation where I need to rapidly maneuver to avoid an accident, you can be damn sure I want Track Mode to be off and full nannies to be on.
Shaving a few tenths or seconds off a lap on the track or autocross event? That's where I want Track Mode.
Last edited:
AlanSubie4Life
Efficiency Obsessed Member
Ok dude, I’ll get rid of my car. This thread, I guess, is a waste of time. Kind of like the rest of this forum, mostly. Fortunately you live about as far from me as possible.
I have a simple motto: don’t be an a**hole on public streets.
RTFM, seriously.
These features are designed to improve safety. As such, either (a) they fail to meet the design intent or (b) turning them off makes the car less safe. If you want to argue (a) then many (most?) here would disagree with you. If you want to argue against (b) -- which you seem to be -- then you're simply arguing against fact, which is an odd choice.
Perry
Active Member
Experience with something trumps reading the manual. I trust what I feel and experience every day more than the legal text Tesla has to put out to cover themselves. My opinion is that the car is so extremely safe already that making it 1% less safe when it is already 200% more safe than most other cars is nothing to worry about. 199% more safe than anything else is safe enough for me. If I were to argue you point further then why not stay home instead of driving and you will definitely have even more safety. How much is safe enough? That depends on the trade offs we all make. We choose to risk driving, which is a risk with any car, for certain benefits.
So whether the trade off makes sense to you is all a matter of degree. How much safety do you loose and how much benefit do you gain by enabling Track Mode on the street. Those that agree with you see a lot of safety loss and very little to gain while those who agree with me see an insignificant loss in safety and a tremendous benefit in the positive drive-ability characteristics provided by Track Mode. And yes there a people who agree with me and do use Track Mode for street use. Just read the other posts.
So whether the trade off makes sense to you is all a matter of degree. How much safety do you loose and how much benefit do you gain by enabling Track Mode on the street. Those that agree with you see a lot of safety loss and very little to gain while those who agree with me see an insignificant loss in safety and a tremendous benefit in the positive drive-ability characteristics provided by Track Mode. And yes there a people who agree with me and do use Track Mode for street use. Just read the other posts.
paranoidroid
Member
What I find interesting is there is not one person who actually frequently tracks or autocrosses cars or has high performance driving education here that agrees with you.
Perry
Active Member
So what? No amount of people agreeing or disagreeing with me would change my first hand experience with the system? What I see and feel beats all other source of information especially when I have tested the hell out of it in all imaginable scenarios. I am totally confident and comfortable with my assessment.
paranoidroid
Member
Great, so with your total confidence and having "tested the hell out of it in all imaginable scenarios" tell us under what conditions will your car spin out with Track Mode enabled but not in full stability control? Give us a handful of scenarios and be specific about it in terms of vehicle dynamics. Once you understand the specific conditions of this you can describe the next step of mitigating each scenario.
I can give a handful of these scenarios.
And if your answer is what it was before "if you spun out in Track Mode then you also would have spun out under full stability control" then I present you with this graph:
Last edited:
Similar threads
