Tesla Plaid Track Pack smashes Porsche Nürburgring record

06th June 2023

Ethan Jupp

Tesla have delivered a home-turf blow to Porsche once again, as the Tesla Model S retakes the lead in the race against the Taycan at the Nürburgring.

Using the new Track Pack, a Model S Plaid has topped the Porsche Taycan Turbo S’s 7:33.35 time with a 7:25.23. That’s also over ten seconds quicker than it went before.

So what does the new Track Pack consist of? Crucially, for a road car with more than one turn lock-to-lock, an actual steering wheel… although that’s not Track Pack specific. Just a nice touch.

Well, it unlocks the Plaid’s 200mph top speed capability, adds carbon ceramic brakes, high-performance track tyres and forged wheels. Truthfully, these are mostly genuinely transformative additions.

The Plaid is quicker on every straight, can brake later and harder into every corner, grip harder through every corner, and accelerate harder out of every corner. With the Nordschleife consisting of more than 170 corners, it’s believable these mods are worth ten seconds, if not more.

So how is Porsche to respond? Well, Porsche naming convention up to now suggests only a GT badge can make it faster on track. We’re not expecting the full treatment, so a Taycan wearing a Turbo GT badge, first seen on the high-performance Cayenne, seems likely.

We expect a touch of aero, a whole load of suspension tweaks and a third motor for extra power, to be the order of the day. What those upgrades will yield, remains to be seen. For now, Tesla are back as the king’s of the ‘Ring, where it comes to production EVs.