Tesla’s efforts to debase Porsche with one new lap speed record on the Nurburgring Nordschleife race track in Germany have reawakened a controversy related to the lap times, with a few claims of Tesla cheating on the circuit.
Tesla and Porsche are fighting to establish predominance in the lap times with regards to their 4-door electric performance vehicles. However, comparisons aren’t precise, as conditions starting from the tire types to car modifications vary with every test.
Tesla recently was spotted along with a new Model S variant at the racing circuit, which is 12.9 miles long and has slanted chambers.
As per ‘Auto Motor und Sport,’ one Tesla car was observed making an unofficial lap time of 7mins and 23secs, which beats even the Porsche Taycan lap time. According to Porsche, Taycan achieved 7mins and 42secs of lap time.
However, this recent challenge by Tesla has raised questions if the automobile maker is really playing fair.
As per Stefan Baldauf, a photographer who captures images of prototype vehicles, the Tesla car was modified heavily. Besides the driver’s seat and roll cage, the interior of the car were stripped out, said Baldauf. In fact, the windows were also blacked out so that it was difficult for anyone to tell, he added.
Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla responded back on the matter via Twitter saying that the final configuration utilized in the Tesla at Nurburgring for setting the record would be sent for production during early 2020. As such, the configuration isn’t merely for the track, he added.