Model S lap of Laguna Seca was not an official record

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David Green

Well-Known Member
I see Tesla and Elon Musk are making more false claims about having set a record at Laguna Seca, but much like the Nurburgring he forgot to set up a record run with the track. And this is not a production car, so does not qualify for a production car lap record, Maybe some more work and they can beat the Camaro ZL1 1LE lap, wouldn't that be something if a racing prototype Tesla can beat a 70K car built by GM, and available at chevy dealers today?

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/12/tes...prototype-with-3-motors-plaid-powertrain.html
 
Yeah, it may not have officially set a record, but it definitely broke some. BTW, it was Musk who said it set a record. The Tesla tweet just said "We lapped Laguna Seca @WeatherTechRcwy in 1:36.555 during advanced R&D testing of our Model S Plaid powertrain and chassis prototype (That’s a second faster than the record for a four-door sedan)."
 
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Domenick said:
Yeah, it may not have officially set a record, but it definitely broke some. BTW, it was Musk who said it set a record. The Tesla tweet just said "We lapped Laguna Seca @WeatherTechRcwy in 1:36.555 during advanced R&D testing of our Model S Plaid powertrain and chassis prototype (That’s a second faster than the record for a four-door sedan)."
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Ya, of course it was just Elon (being Elon) lying or deceiving again! Yes, it did beat the time for the 4 year old and much cheaper Cadillac CTS-V by 1 second. The part to remember is that this is a prototype Tesla, not a production vehicle, I would guess GM has a few prototypes kicking around that would annihilate this record as the last gen CTS-V is nearing the end of its production run... I wonder how the current Tesla production Model S performance would do ?
 
David Green said:
Ya, of course it was just Elon (being Elon) lying or deceiving again! Yes, it did beat the time for the 4 year old and much cheaper Cadillac CTS-V by 1 second. The part to remember is that this is a prototype Tesla, not a production vehicle, I would guess GM has a few prototypes kicking around that would annihilate this record as the last gen CTS-V is nearing the end of its production run... I wonder how the current Tesla production Model S performance would do ?
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The Tesla time was 1:36.555, so closer to two seconds faster than the Cadillac CTS-V (1:38.52). It was about a second faster than the Jaguar XE SV Project 8 time (1:37.54) from a year ago.
 
Would have thought avoiding the rumble strips was better form but I'm not a race car driver either.

Any idea of what the big red button in the yellow block might be?

Bob Wilson
 
Domenick said:
For not being a pro, I thought the driver did a pretty good job here.
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Most track records are set by chassis engineers, especially on the Nurburgring where the chassis engineers run hundreds of laps and most true racers only have a few laps per year. Knowing the track is the most important. At Laguna Seca Its Randy Pobst that holds most of the records, he really knows the line on that track. .

Camaro ZL1 1LE driven by a chassis Engineer, and almost all of the Corvette records are Jim Mero who is another engineer.
 
bwilson4web said:
Would have thought avoiding the rumble strips was better form but I'm not a race car driver either.

Any idea of what the big red button in the yellow block might be?

Bob Wilson
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You need as much track width as possible in certain corners and using the rumble strips or even more is the best line

The big red button is a kill switch all prototype cars have, even ice cars...
 
Domenick said:
The Tesla time was 1:36.555, so closer to two seconds faster than the Cadillac CTS-V (1:38.52). It was about a second faster than the Jaguar XE SV Project 8 time (1:37.54) from a year ago.
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Yes but the CTS-V was in street trim, and production tires, brakes and alignment settings, and was a random production model, acquired by motor tend, not a prototype, with carbon ceramic brakes, and race tires, and non production settings... Actually after the Lap, Randy Pobst said the car needs more brakes to to any faster, but power was great.
 
Domenick said:
Yeah, it may not have officially set a record, but it definitely broke some. BTW, it was Musk who said it set a record. The Tesla tweet just said "We lapped Laguna Seca @WeatherTechRcwy in 1:36.555 during advanced R&D testing of our Model S Plaid powertrain and chassis prototype (That’s a second faster than the record for a four-door sedan)."
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Since Tesla is using a prototype, lets look at the Nurburgring Prototype record 6:05 set by VW in the ID-R , now that's a fast car... Think the 202X roadster will be able to do that?

 
David Green said:
Since Tesla is using a prototype, lets look at the Nurburgring Prototype record 6:05 set by VW in the ID-R , now that's a fast car... Think the 202X roadster will be able to do that?

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I think there's a little difference between a sedan prototype and a race car, but ok. I can't imagine a road car matching the ID.R on any timed run.
 
Domenick said:
I think there's a little difference between a sedan prototype and a race car, but ok. I can't imagine a road car matching the ID.R on any timed run.
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Model S P can beat ID-R 0-60, so it should beat it on the Nurburgring, right? Haha! Thats a joke of course, but the typical Tesla fan analysis.
 
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