Watch Tesla Model 3 on an impressive autocross run

Most production electric cars are either too big and heavy or not powerful enough to be competitive in an autocross event, but now a few new EVs like the Chevy Bolt EV and the Tesla Model 3 are starting to be interesting for autocross.

Now a Tesla Model 3 owner took his car to an autocross event – giving us an idea of the vehicle’s handling under tougher circumstances.

The Tesla Racing YouTube Channel posted the autocross video of Model 3 owner CJ Couch.

They wrote in the description:

My local friend CJ Couch went to a local SCCA Autox event at ZMAX Dragstrip with his new long range, rear wheel drive Tesla Model 3. This car cornered very well for what it is especially, putting down a time of 66.9 seconds.

They said that the times were competitive with other cars at the event, like the Mazda Miata seen in the video.

Here you can see the run from the starting point and then from the top of the Model 3:

In the comment, CJ says that he did 5 runs with a 1480 Wh/mile efficiency and that he didn’t even hear the cooling fans kick in.

He felt like he could have kept going all day, which is interesting because some people have reported going into power restrictions when pushing the Model S like that.

But that’s based on anecdotal evidence at this point and we wouldn’t need more data to see if there is any significant improvements with the Model 3.

To be fair, several cars did the run faster than CJ in the Model 3, but he was competing in the “novice” section so we would need more data from different drivers and different cars to get a better idea of the performance:

Electrek’s Take

I had a ton of fun last year during a Chevy Bolt EV autocross event last year and it got me excited about what the Model 3, which is a little more powerful, could do.

It should be easier to get better performance with low regenerative braking, but if it was possible to shut it down entirely, it would likely be even better. I wish Tesla would offer the option to disable it temporarily for things like this.

The Model 3 with dual motor should also be a fun car to try on an autocross course, but the weight is still an issue.

Who else plans to bring their Model 3 to some autocross events? Let us know in the comment section below.