Your Tesla Model S Plaid Will Now Have A Track Mode!

The Model S Plaid has been the talk of the town ever since it was launched last year. It has become the king of the drag strip within a short span of time, but it wasn’t as good on circuits and tracks as it was on straight roads. Don’t get me wrong, it is a beast even there, but it needed something like the Model 3 Performance’s Track Mode to complete it. Fast forward to the present day, Tesla has done exactly that.

The Tesla Model S Plaid is now available with the Track Mode, an over-the-air update that has already started rolling out, to make cornering on this just as good as its straight-line sprints.

What Is The Plaid Track Mode?

The Plaid Track Mode has been introduced to make the EV handle better and carve corners in a vigorous manner. The Track Mode includes Lateral Torque Vectoring, wherein the car will automatically adjust the torque split across the rear wheels independently, which applies a torque bias to rotate the car through turns. This will allow the driver to have a better turn-in response, an improved on-center steering feel, and better overall control around the corners.

The Track Mode will also allow you to adjust the car’s dynamics. In the standard tuning, the stability control system is optimized to limit the tire slippage to keep you safe. Here, however, the stability control system receives a race tuning so you can control the car’s lateral movement. It comes with a Vehicle Dynamics Controller that evaluates steering angle, accelerator, and brake pedal inputs from the driver. It will even allow tire slippage for high-speed cornering.

It also comes with Adaptive Suspension Damping that reduces the pitch during hard braking and when the A-pedal is floored.

Apart from this, there are changes made to the user interface on the 17-inch touchscreen and the display behind the yoke steering to provide relevant performance data. Other than various customization options, it includes:

- Vehicle Thermals Monitor- Lap Timer- G-meter- Dashcam Video Capture and Vehicle Telemetry

Tesla has also ensured an optimized powertrain cooling to handle all the heat generated by the brakes, motors, and batteries. The Plaid Track Mode will come with increased regen braking power as well.

The automaker also noted that the Track Mode’s goal was to help the Model S Plaid become the fastest EV to lap the Nürburgring, which it did a few months back. Of the two runs, the first run was completed in 7:30.909 minutes with an average speed of 103.34 mph (166.320 kph), and the second run in 7:35.579 minutes with an average speed of 102.29 mph (164.614 kph). The Model S Plaid broke the Porsche Taycan’s record of 7:42 it set in 2019.

It was also during this run that we uncovered the official top speed of the car. On paper, it has a top speed of 200 mph, but it was during this run we saw the car touch 269 kph (167.14 mph). Brooks from DragTimes took the updated Tesla Model S Plaid for a top speed run and the car topped out at 173 mph. This was on an uphill with two people on board. Also, that particular example was equipped with a non-stock set of wheels. Perhaps, that made a difference as well.

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Tesla is also offering a carbon-ceramic brake kit which will be available from mid-2022. The carbon-ceramic brake kit is priced at $20,0000 and includes:

- 2x 410 x 40mm carbon-silicon carbide front rotors

- 2x 410 x 32mm carbon-silicon carbide rear rotors

- 2x 6-piston one-piece, forged front calipers

- 2x 4-piston one-piece, forged rear calipers

- 2x integrated, caliper-mounted parking brakes

- 4x high-performance front brake pads

- 4x high-performance rear brake pads

- 1x bottle of high-temperature brake fluid

One thing that you must note that is that the carbon-ceramic brake kit is compatible only with the 21-inch Arachnid wheels, which is a $4,500 option.

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It’ll be interesting to see if the company will introduce a Track Package for the Model S Plaid as it did for the Model 3 Performance when it rolled out the Track Mode V2 in 2020. To give you an idea, this $5,500-Track Package came with the following things:

- 4x 20X9 Zero-G Performance wheels

- 4x Tesla logo center caps

- 20x lug nut covers

- 4x 245/35ZR20 XL Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires

- 4x tire pressure sensors

- 4x front high-performance brake pads

- 4x rear high-performance brake pads

- 1x bottle of brake fluid - 32fl oz

Conclusion

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We’ll have to wait and watch if Tesla comes up with a Track Package for the Model S Plaid or not. What we can have instead is a Plaid+ Package that will complement the Track Mode very well.

What are your thoughts on the Plaid Track Mode? Share them with us in the comments section below.

FAQ

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The Pathfinder measures 197.7 in length, which makes it 1.2 inches longer than the Honda Pilot, but 1.1 inches shorter than the Ford Explorer. It is the least wide, measuring 77.9 inches. The Pilot and the Explorer measure 78.6- and 78.9 inches wide. However, it is the tallest of lot, standing in at 70.9 inches from the ground. This makes it one full inches taller than the Explorer and 0.3 inches taller than the Pilot.

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The Pathfinder weighs 4,317 pounds, which makes it a tad bit lighter than the 4,345-pound Explorer, but 276 pounds heavier than the 4,041-pound Pilot.

Q: How Much Can The 2022 Pathfinder Tow?

The 2022 Nissan Pathfinder can tow up to 3,500 pounds on the lower trims and 6,000 pounds on the top trim.

Q: How Spacious Is The 2022 Pathfinder?

In the front row, the Pathfinder offers 42.3 inches of headroom, 60.8 inches of shoulder room, 58.3 inches of hip room, and 44.3 inches of legroom.

Q: How Much Cargo Space Does The 2022 Pathfinder Offer?

Step to the rear and you’ll have 39.6 inches of headroom, 59.6 inches of shoulder room, 56.3 inches of hip room, and 35.5 inches of legroom in the Pathfinder.

Q: How Much Fuel Economy Does The 2022 Pathfinder Offer?

With all the seats in place, you’ll have 16.6 cubic feet of space in the Pathfinder, 18.2 cubic feet of cargo space in the Explorer, and 16.5 cubic feet of space in the Pilot. Flip down the second and third row in the Pathfinder and you’ll have 80.5 cubic feet of space to stuff your luggage in.