Germany, September 9: The Tesla Model S Plaid has set a new electric lap record at the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife racetrack in Germany, with a lap time of 7:30.909, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on Twitter. He stated that the car used was completely unmodified, directly from the factory. Tesla’s lengthy war with Porsche over claiming the Nürburgring Nordschleife’s record for the fastest mass-produced electric car has finally been run and won, with Tesla beating Porsche in its own backyard. The Porsche Panamera Turbo set a 7:29.81 lap record last year on the same configuration, which puts the Model S just 1 second ahead of the 4 door model from one of the world’s most respected racing marques.
Nürburgring Nordschleife is one of the most famous racetracks in the world, known for its technical difficulty and exceptional length of 13 miles per lap. The track winds through Rhineland forests on roads that are less flat and well-maintained than modern race circuits, with a combination of every type of corner and lots of graffiti from the locals. Tesla has been at Nürburgring for the last couple of weeks testing their new product and doing record attempts. In the Twitter thread, Musk confirmed that the next hurdle for the Model S will be to run the famous track in modified form with additional aerodynamic pieces, carbon-ceramic brakes and stickier tires. He also stated that an over-the-air software update with track-oriented settings and waypoints and other things for the Model S is probably a few weeks away.