When Porsche unveiled their all-electric Taycan earlier this year, many people (including us) speculated it would instantly be a huge rival for Tesla in the luxury EV sector. Tesla isn’t going to give up their crown without a fight, though.
Back in August, the Taycan clocked a 7:42 lap at the famous Nurburgring track in Germany. It was the fastest lap ever for a four-door all-electric sedan. Tesla CEO Elon Musk did not take the news kindly, it seems. According to various German news outlets, Tesla brought a finely-tuned Model S to the track and bested the Taycan’s time by almost 20 seconds, with a 7:23 time.
The unofficial run was timed with a hand-timer. It would need to be repeated in an official test in order for Tesla to truly claim victory. German newsite Auto Motor reports that VLN driver Thomas Mutsch was behind the wheel for the record-breaking run.
Was it Legit?
However, the unofficial best has raised some questions. First of all, was Tesla using a regular consumer available Model S? Or was it one of their new prototypes, which should provide an increase in performance? Leaked photos show the car has a P100D+ badge on it. That would suggest this wasn’t simply a normal Model S.
The test car is also rumored to have used non-stock tires. Which is fine, but critics will point out that if you can’t order the exact tires used in the time trial from the Tesla website when you buy a car, the track time is misleading.
Tesla has been tight-lipped about all of this, which is another red flag. If they were confident in breaking the record, you have to believe that the egotistical Musk would have tweeted about it by now. However, it sounds like Tesla is sticking around the ‘Ring for a few weeks, so we may have something official soon.
As for Porsche, don’t expect them to simply accept defeat. They have confirmed to multiple outlets that their 7:42 time was achieved with the Taycan Turbo. They specifically did not use the more powerful Taycan Turbo S. If Tesla does indeed set a new official record, it sounds like Porsche has another trick up their sleeve to reclaim the crown.
Screenshot via Carscoops/YouTube
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