'Plaid' level Model S revealed with lap record
Tesla has used a four-door sedan record at Laguna Seca to confirm a forthcoming performance grade
You can expect a rash of this sort of thing now. Porsche's record-setting Taycan lap at the Nurburgring was partly intended to put Tesla's nose out of joint; the latter's newly revealed lap record at Laguna Seca, barely two days after its rival's public debut, is meant as a lively riposte. Not just in minutes and seconds either - the achievement also announced the incoming 'Plaid' designation.
Passing mention of the range-topping specification has been made before. Elon Musk himself alluded to it when 'Ludicrous' mode became a thing (and as any Space Balls fan will tell you, 'gone to plaid' definitely represents a superior level of performance). What precisely it means for the Model S - and other Tesla models, apparently - remains to be seen. Tesla says the enhancements aren't due for production till next year.
Plainly though, they include modifications to both the powertrain and chassis. The former is Tesla's go-to solution, although given the Model S already develops 762hp in Ludicrous guise, where it goes from there is anyone's guess. Of course the Taycan's primary achievement is delivering its own 761hp consistently enough to get from bridge to gantry in 7mins 42 secs without waving a white flag.
Going full pelt for 1min 36 secs is obviously less onerous, but we'd imagine any improvement in straight-line performance has been accompanied by commensurate gains in endurance. Moreover, any work done retuning the Model S's suspension is likely to go hand-in-hand with evermore sophisticated ways of deploying said power to the road surface (assuming that Tesla's experimentation with 'Track' modes did not stop at making a Model 3 drift). Either way, the relatively recent phenomena of manufacturers besting each other with lap times looks unlikely to recede as electric-only models take hold.
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