Tesla Claims the Model S Can Lap the Nurburgring in 7:05

Here’s what we know about this budding rivalry between Tesla and Porsche. The latter launched the Taycan to great acclaim a few weeks ago. Shortly after that, Tesla announced that it would bring the Model S to the Nurburgring for the first time. The timing of Tesla’s announcement wasn’t a coincidence. With the Taycan in the fold and threatening to take the Model S’s crown, Elon Musk and company went on the offensive, determined to snatch the four-door production car lap record that was recently set by, you guessed it, the Porsche Taycan Turbo.

Determined to mark its territory, Tesla didn’t just bring a production Model S to the Nurburgring.

It also had carbon-ceramic brakes, a gutted interior, according to witnesses who saw the car at the ‘Ring, and it was even wearing a set of lightweight wheels wrapped in wider semi-slick Goodyear tires, either the Eagle F1 Supersport RS or Supercar 3Rs variety. Hardly a production Model S that you can order from Tesla.

In any case, Tesla brought this prototype-spec Model S to the Nurburgring and, as you might expect, it scorched the track on the way to what an eyewitness claimed was a lap time of 7:23. That’s a significant time because it’s almost 20 seconds faster than the 7:42 lap time set by the Taycan Turbo a few weeks ago. Tesla being Tesla, the automaker wasted little time shouting about the Model S Plaid’s accomplishment, saying that the triple-motor prototype could achieve a 7:20 lap time, according to “data from our track tests.”

This is where it gets interesting. Even with the “eyewitness” timed lap, the Model S Plaid actually didn’t set a legitimate time because its runs around the ‘Ring were done during an industry pool session where manufacturer timing is banned on a track layout that doesn’t allow for flying laps. Still, Tesla’s going to take its victories any way it can get them, and while there will be debates on the supposed record lap time and the version of the Model S that set said record lap time, that didn’t stop

So, Tesla’s coming back to the Nurburgring next month, and it’s bringing a modified version of the Model S Plaid prototype. The latter still isn’t a production model so it does look like Tesla’s only doing this to stroke its own ego. Fortunately, Porsche still has an ace up its own sleeve. The faster and more powerful Taycan Turbo S has yet to take a lap around the Nurburgring. Perhaps we should just wait for these two electric vehicles to line side-by-side at the Nurburgring and do it the old-fashioned way to see which of these two is faster around the Green Hell.

Further Reading

The Tesla Model S Plaid May Have Beaten the Taycan Around the Nurburgring

Read our full review on the 2019 Tesla Model S.