A heavily modified Tesla Model S Plaid built by Unplugged Performance set an unintentional new lap record on the Big Willow track at Willow Springs, with the lap time being a little over a second faster than the previous record which was set by a modified Porsche 911 GT2 RS.
The Tesla specialist was at Willow Springs for a totally different reason – to tune the vehicle for Pikes Peak – but on the third hot lap of this particular testing session, a lap time of 1:20.03 was achieved, which is 1.05 seconds faster than the car sitting in second place.
According to Fastestlaps.com, the top 10 fastest cars around Willow Springs are as follows:
- Unplugged Performance Model S Plaid “Dark Helmet” – 1:20.03;
- Porsche 911 GT2 RS (991) – 1:21.08;
- Dodge Viper ACR (Mk. V) – 1:21.24;
- McLaren 720S – 1:21.75;
- Lamborghini Huracan Performante – 1:22.53;
- Porsche 918 Spyder – 1:23.54;
- Porsche 911 GT3 RS – 1:23.67;
- Ford GT MKII – 1:23.69;
- Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 – 1:23.70;
- Porsche 911 Turbo S – 1:24.26.
Driven by the Unplugged Performance factory driver Craig Coker, the heavily modified Model S casually reached speeds of up to 150 miles per hour (241 kilometers per hour) on the main track at Willow Springs, with lateral forces sometimes exceeding 2 Gs in the high-speed corners.
As impressive as this is, it looks like the car has more to give, with the specialist company saying that the high-voltage battery was already heat-soaked after a couple of hot laps. And indeed, as you can see in the video embedded at the top of this page, the “battery threshold” meter on the screen goes from green to red toward the end of the record lap and the top speed seems to be reduced on the final straight.
Unplugged Performance’s “Dark Helmet” Model S Plaid features a radical body kit with high downforce aerodynamics, as well as the company’s Superlight Carbon Ceramic Big Brake kit. The EV has previously secured lap records at tracks such as Buttonwillow Raceway Park, Willow Springs Streets of Willow, Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca, and Auto Club Speedway.
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