Musk Lord of the Ring as Tesla claims EV record

September 10, 2021September 15, 2021 Stephen Corby 3126 Views Nurburgring, Tesla

The Tesla Model S Plaid has apparently smashed the lap record for a production electric car at the Nurburgring, and beaten quite a few internal-combustion-engined weapons at the same time.

Elon Musk, or Tesla in human-like form, announced the news on Twitter, adding that the car was “Completely unmodified, directly from factory.”

This comes as something of a surprise considering just how many special measures – high-grip surfaces, drag strips – need to be taken for the car to hit its incredible claimed 0 to 60mph (96km/h) times of under two seconds.

Elon Musk's Twitter account showing what is claimed to be the lap time for the Tesla Model S Plaid around the Nurburgring — Elon Musk’s Twitter account showing what is claimed to be the lap time for the Tesla Model S Plaid around the Nurburgring

The official time for the Model S Plaid was 7 minutes 30.909 seconds (at an average speed of 166km/h), which, in case you’re one of the several billion people on the planet who think Nurburgring times are pointless and a bit of a wank-fest (infamously including James May), is very good indeed.

The previous record for a production electric vehicle was set by Porsche’s Taycan Turbo in 2019, when it ran a 7:42.3. And 12 seconds, even around a track as long and epic as The Green Hell, is a lot.

On the one hand, the Plaid is not quite as fast as a Porsche Panamera Turbo with an old-school petrol engine, which claims a 7:29.81, or the 2009 Nissan GT-R, which set a then staggering 7.29 flat some years ago, but it’s definitely worth celebrating the fact that it is faster than a genuine super car, the Koenigsegg CCR from 2005, and a 2007 Porsche 911 GT2, a brand new 2021 Audi RS3 and the very enjoyable, very loud Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio.

There’s no word yet on who was driving the Plaid, and you can bet we would have heard about it if it was Musk himself, but there’s a good chance that a test driver somewhere at Porsche will be limbering up to take the record back for his company, which is yet to run a Nurbugring lap wth its fastest Taycan, the Turbo S. After all, Porsche created its Taycan to be an all-round EV performance machine, not just a car focused on straight-line acceleration.

Stephen Corby

Stephen is a former editor of both Wheels and Top Gear Australia magazines and has been writing about cars since Henry Ford was a boy. Initially an EV sceptic, he has performed a 180-degree handbrake turn and is now a keen advocate for electrification and may even buy a Porsche Taycan one day, if he wins the lottery. Twice.