Porsche threw down the performance EV gauntlet when it announced that the Taycan had set the four-door all-electric lap record at the Nürburgring. Tesla has clearly taken the challenge very seriously, with CEO Elon Musk teasing that Tesla Model S sedans would be testing at the ‘Ring this week. Knowing a Nürburgring attempt was imminent, the automotive world has been anxiously awaiting word of a new lap record. We got one—just not the one we were expecting.
Model S just set record for fastest 4 door ever at Laguna Seca, video tmrw
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 11, 2019
Musk took to Twitter, as he usually does, to break the news late on Tuesday. According to the tweet, the Tesla Model S set the record for the fastest four-door around California’s famed Laguna Seca raceway. Musk teased cryptically that we’d see a “video tmrw,” but as of this writing it has yet to appear. Tesla already set both the electric car and the four-door lap record earlier this year with a Model 3 Performance, which posted a time of 1 minute, 37.53 seconds. That time just barely beat the 2019 Jaguar XE SV Project 8’s previous record of 1:37.54, which was set by MotorTrend’s own Randy Pobst in 2018.
We’ve reached out to Tesla for more details on the tweet, but so far have yet to hear back. We have a lot of questions, like was this Model S completely stock? Was its software altered in any way? Was it wearing racing slicks or the OEM street tires? Is a Nürburgring record attempt still in progress? Hopefully we’ll have answers soon. In the meantime, we’re enjoying watching the electric performance rivalry between the Tesla Model S and the Porsche Taycan unfold.
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Source: WORLD NEWS
