Watch Tesla Model 3 Performance complete a lap at Nürburgring race track

For the first time, as far as we know, a Tesla Model 3 Performance completed a lap at the Nürburgring race track and you can watch it on video.

The Nürburgring racetrack is a famously difficult track, often used as a benchmark for overall vehicle performance due to its length and grueling nature.  The track is over 12 miles long through the German countryside and includes high and low speed turns, varied road surfaces and lots of bumps and hills.

It is especially becoming a popular benchmark for electric vehicles, which have been known to not be able to maintain a high-power output for a long period of time, like it is required on the Nürburgring track.

Porsche is setting out to disprove that with a track-ready version of the Taycan and some prototypes were spotted testing on the Nürburgring track.

VW is also going after the Nürburgring record with a new version of its ID. R fully-electric sports car later this year.

In the meantime, a Tesla Model 3 Performance owner showed that Tesla’s latest performance car can actually handle the difficult track.

They released a video of the lap (credit to GTMAN_20832 via JayinShanghai):

Electrek’s Take

It looks like a 9-minute lap Bridge-to-Gantry, but there was a lot of traffic and it is unclear if they were using Tesla’s Track Mode, which would be extremely useful on this track.

The video description is confusing about that and we don’t see them activating in the video – though they would have to do it ahead of time anyway since it takes a while to activate.

I don’t think it was enabled, which is a shame. I’m looking forward to seeing a lap with Track Mode enabled.

As you can see in the video, the brake temperature alarm is going on for long periods of time. Track Mode’s more powerful regen braking could have potentially helped a little, but it is known that Tesla’s performance brakes could use an upgrade when it comes to heavy track use.

The electric vehicle record at the Nürburgring racetrack is currently held in a NIO EP9 supercar with a 6:45.90 lap, but that can’t really be compared to this lap in traffic by the Model 3 Performance.

I wouldn’t be surprised if an electric vehicle holds the track record within the next 2 years.