Tesla brought back updated versions of its Model S ‘Plaid’ prototypes to the Nürburgring racetrack and you can see them pushing the vehicles hard in testing ahead of an expected record attempt.
As we previously reported, following the recent launch of the Porsche Taycan, Tesla CEO Elon Musk appears to be on a mission to show that Tesla’s vehicles are still the highest-performing EVs available today.
Last month, he said that Tesla would bring a Model S to the Nürburgring race track — right after Porsche established a new 4-door electric car record at the track.
However, in the following days, Tesla announced a Model S with a 3-motor “Plaid powertrain” and new a “chassis prototype.”
Musk also said that Tesla has a new 7-seater Model S prototype at the Nürburgring racetrack, and it seems like the track testing could simply be about testing new versions of Tesla’s Model S and the new 3-motor “Plaid Powertrain” instead of just going after the Taycan.
Either way, they were still going after a record.
A witness said yesterday that Tesla’s “Plaid” Model S already crushed the Porsche Taycan’s Nürburgring time, which Tesla confirmed in their own testing, but the time hasn’t been made official by the track.
Tesla said that it would be making improvements and come back in October.
Sure enough, the updated Model S Plaid prototypes have been spotted at the track.
YouTuber and Nürburgring track spy Automotive Mike released a video showing the new cars going crazy on the track:
The video shows Tesla attempting some very hot laps and also doing some crazy maneuvers seemingly to test the handling.
The two prototypes show wider bodies around the wheels, larger air intakes, and one of them has a very large diffuser in the back:
It’s not clear yet if Tesla is going to be able to attempt an official record time, but the automaker believes that an impressive 7:05 time is achieveable.
The Model S would become one of the fastest 4-door vehicles on the Nürburgring track.
Last month, Musk said that the Tesla Model S with a “Plaid” powertrain and new rear-facing seats is coming in Oct/Nov 2020.
After the most recent testing, now the CEO says that it is coming next summer.
The next-gen Roadster is expected to also get Tesla’s new 3-motor Plaid powertrain, but it should come after the new version of the Model S.
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