Pro-driver Randy Pobst, a former multiple SCCA World Challenge GT champion who helped Tesla test its ‘Track Mode’, has put several Tesla Model 3 Performance vehicles with different levels of upgrades to the test.
Unplugged Performance, a Tesla tuner, invited Pobst to the latest installment of Tesla Corsa, an event to let Tesla owners test the limits of their cars in a safe environment on race tracks.
The first three events were held at the Buttonwillow racetrack in California.
During the event, Pobst tested four different Tesla Model 3 Performance vehicles from a stock car to vehicles with some different Unplugged Performance upgrades.
Here are all the Tesla Model 3 Performance vehicles that Pobst drove during the event:
It gave a rare opportunity to get an interesting perspective on how performance upgrades affect the Tesla Model 3 Performance.
Pobst already drove the Performance Model 3 and even helped Tesla develop Track Mode for the vehicle.
After driving the stock vehicle again, Pobst noted that he was still impressed:
“Tesla Model 3 hides its weight very well.”
He ended up completing a 2:01.8 lap time in the stock car with a full charge.
With the stock car as a baseline, the pro-driver moved to different versions of the Model 3 with increasingly more advanced upgrades from Unplugged Performance.
To be fair, Pobst was focusing on product development testing and not necessarily trying to get the fastest lap time with all the different vehicles, but it still gave him a pretty good idea of how the versions of the car compare.
He believes that Unplugged’s spring kit and sway bars result in shaving a couple of seconds off your fastest lap time.
With Kevin’s Model 3 Performance, which had the most modifications, Pobst achieved a 1:58.5 lap, but he believes that he should have been able to get a 1:54-1:55 lap.
He said that he felt Track Mode was stabbing the brakes despite him being on the throttle.
Here you can watch Pobst give his thoughts on all the different upgrades in a video following the track day:
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