Watch Tesla Model S Plaid Record Lap At Laguna Seca

[TMC Staff]

A year ago, the Tesla Model S Plaid beat the record for 4-door sedans. Now, it’s much quicker. We knew it wouldn’t be long after Lucid started marketing its upcoming Air electric car that Tesla would have to go back to bat to beat it. The Air has specs that are way beyond the current Model S, such as a 520-mile range...
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[BigNick]

I thought "Vittel" was a typo.
The driver was NOT the F1 multiple champion.

 

[SageBrush]

Arithmetic for the 9 second quarter mile works out to just over 1 G average.
And about 200 mph (90 meters per second) at the end
Not bad, not bad


---
1/4 mile = 400 meters
distance = 0.5 a * t * t
a = ~ 10 meters per second per second

 

[beatle]

The Laguna lap was sweet. I think it can go even faster. He's sawing at the wheel in a few places, especially turn 8a after the corkscrew. Not that I could do better, but the best drivers' inputs look like they're commuting.

However, I don't know how Tesla thinks a car with 20 hp more than the Lucid Air (they are advertising 1100hp for the Plaid vs. 1080 for the Air) will do a 1/4 mile a full second faster. The Air is still only around half a second faster than the current MSP, and that's with like 300 extra electric ponies.

 

[FastLaneJB]

The Laguna lap was sweet. I think it can go even faster. He's sawing at the wheel in a few places, especially turn 8a after the corkscrew. Not that I could do better, but the best drivers' inputs look like they're commuting.

However, I don't know how Tesla thinks a car with 20 hp more than the Lucid Air (they are advertising 1100hp for the Plaid vs. 1080 for the Air) will do a 1/4 mile a full second faster. The Air is still only around half a second faster than the current MSP, and that's with like 300 extra electric ponies.

I’m not an expert on this but while they might make similar power, electric cars seem to tail off normally at higher speeds. It’s maybe a combination of the battery, maybe having no gearing or other items.

An example of this is the MSP vs a Tycan Turbo. At higher speeds the Tycan once it’s in its second gear pulls on a MSP to be quite a bit quicker at the over 100mph mark.

My guess is at low speeds there might not be much those two cars but Tesla probably have the means to keep the juice flowing better higher up and that’s how they could be doing this...

 

[dark cloud]

I thought "Vittel" was a typo.
The driver was NOT the F1 multiple champion.

Yeah, quite a weird similar name. I looked the name up for a few minutes and at first all I could find was the youtube channel and an instagram account. Some articles claim the name is an alias, but this article gives reason why they know him, and finally this article claims he is a French pro. Looks like Tesla France put in a good word with HQ and they shipped him over to Laguna Seca. He has plenty of laps at Nurburgring but unclear his true talent or how many laps experience at Laguna.

 

[new driver]

Re The new Tesla model S Plaid coming out next year.
Will there be a new interior and exterior design?

 

[serendipitous]

Re The new Tesla model S Plaid coming out next year.
Will there be a new interior and exterior design?

Nobody knows.

I believe rather strongly that there will be, but suspect it will not be vastly different.

 

[Kristoffer Helle]

The Laguna lap was sweet. I think it can go even faster. He's sawing at the wheel in a few places, especially turn 8a after the corkscrew. Not that I could do better, but the best drivers' inputs look like they're commuting.

However, I don't know how Tesla thinks a car with 20 hp more than the Lucid Air (they are advertising 1100hp for the Plaid vs. 1080 for the Air) will do a 1/4 mile a full second faster. The Air is still only around half a second faster than the current MSP, and that's with like 300 extra electric ponies.

Probably in the first meters. P100DL is slow, compared to P85D P90D.