Tesla Model S Plaid claims Nurburgring lap record

The Model S Plaid snags bragging rights away from Porsche’s Taycan at the industry benchmark circuit.

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The Tesla Model S Plaid has broken the electric production car lap record at Germany’s famed Nurburgring, with a claimed time of 7:30:909 and average speed of 166.32km/h.

That’s roughly 11 seconds quicker than the Porsche Taycan Turbo S, which has held the record since 2019 with a time of 7:42.30.

“Tesla Model S Plaid just set official world speed record for a production electric car at Nurburgring. Completely unmodified, directly from factory,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed on Twitter overnight.

“Next will be modified Plaid with added aero surfaces, carbon brakes & track tires (all things that can be done without Tesla being in the loop).”

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No footage or images of the attempt were published alongside the announcement, and it’s unclear if the lap was set during a high-speed testing session earlier this year (shown at top of page).

Three electric motors – one on the front axle, and two on the rear – in the Tesla Model S sends 761kW/1420Nm to the road, allowing the 2162kg sedan to climb from 0-100km/h in a claimed 2.1 seconds. The benchmark quarter-mile sprint is toppled in 9.23 seconds.

The outright Nurburgring lap record is help by the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo with a time 5:19.546. The fastest car powered soley by electricity is the non-road-registrable Volkswagen ID.R, with a time of 6:05.336.

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