Update, Wednesday Sept. 18, 2:54pm: The article below was originally published on Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 10:43am. Today, our inside source informs us that two Tesla prototypes took to the Nurburgring during an official closed-track, timing-allowed lap session with no traffic. According to our insider, the blue Tesla prototype ran a 7:40 lap—our source believes the car may have had a mechanical problem, or the driver may have made an error somewhere, that would explain the slow lap time. The red Tesla prototype completed one lap in 7:23—identical to the time set on Tuesday during Industry Pool testing, with traffic on the circuit. Our expert eyewitness points out that the two Tesla prototypes had completed several full laps of the circuit before the official timing session this evening, and speculates that battery temperature or charge depletion may have accounted for the lack of improvement in lap times compared to yesterday. Below is our original news report as it was published on Tuesday, Sept. 17.

It appears Tesla's visit to the Nurburgring is bearing some fruit: Today, eyewitnesses have timed a heavily-modified Model S lapping the famous German circuit at a blistering 7:23—nearly 20 seconds faster than the 7:42 lap time set by the Porsche Taycan. But it took a lot of changes to the car to get there.

According to local Nurburgring experts, the two Model S prototypes lapping the Nurburgring are nothing like the EVs you can buy from Tesla today. Our inside source describes the cars as being "stripped to the gunwales," the interiors fully gutted of anything apart from the necessary seats, harnesses, and driver controls—hence the dark-tinted windows, it seems. And we're nearly certain these prototypes are sporting a brand-new, three-motor ultra-high-performance drivetrain—one motor for each rear wheel, and one powering the front axle. Tesla CEO Elon Musk says this ultra-high-performance drivetrain—nicknamed "Plaid," the logical conclusion to the automaker's many Spaceballs references—will be available on production Model S, Model X and Roadster sometime next year.

The cars are also running on huge, wide aftermarket wheels wearing unusual tires—Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport RS, a brand-new track-oriented (but still street legal) tire just introduced this year. Currently, those tires are not available on any Tesla model, and the Nurburgring prototypes wear add-on fender flares to cover the extra-wide wheel-and-tire setup. Our eyewitness also noted that the Teslas have huge carbon-ceramic brakes, possibly Brembo SGLs, the type used on top-spec performance cars from Lamborghini, Mercedes and more. And as we mentioned previously, the Teslas seen at the 'Ring also feature aggressive aerodynamic mods including a substantial rear Gurney flap.

While it's unclear who was driving during the 7:23 lap timed by our eyewitness, three professional racing drivers and 'Ring experts have been seen piloting the Tesla prototypes: Thomas Mutsch, who drives a Ford GT in FIA GT and GT3; Andreas Simonsen, who competes in the Nurburgring VLN series driving for Porsche Team Huber and has driven for Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus; and Carl Rydquist, a GT3 racer.

Clearly, the weight loss, ultra-sticky tires and aero mods—and the massive power of the three-motor drivetrain—have added up. Our eyewitness, armed with a stopwatch and a clear view of the track, hand-timed the Tesla prototype lapping the track in 7:23. And note: This unofficial time was set during Industry Pool lapping sessions, where dozens of manufacturer prototype vehicles ranging from diesel crossovers to fire-breathing supercars all share the track at the same time.

Nurburgring organizers forbid automakers from timing their own laps during Industry Pool sessions, and drivers are required to enter and exit the track from the pit area at Turn 13, making a complete flying lap impossible. So, given the traffic and the restrictions of Industry Pool testing, we feel certain that the highly-modified Tesla could be capable of an even faster lap time on an empty track during an official timed session. Our eyewitness did note that weather conditions were ideal during the lapping session, with temperatures around 64 degrees F and heavy cloud cover.

Still, that's mighty fast. Our eyewitness described the Tesla prototypes popping out to overtake 500- and 600-horsepower supercars during the Industry Pool lapping sessions. And the prototypes seemed able to complete full laps of the 12.9-mile course without any noticeable degradation in performance—previous Teslas had gone into limp-home mode after just a few corners of the 'Ring, likely due to battery overheating.

Our Nurburgring experts suspect that this isn't the last we've heard from Tesla at the 'Ring. There's an official lap-timing session scheduled for Wednesday night, where multiple manufacturers will get a chance to set a flying lap on an empty course, and Tesla is almost certainly signed up to run during this session. In addition, another timing session could be scheduled for Saturday evening (after the three-hour endurance race set for early Saturday)—rumor has it this will be a private session reserved by Tesla. We will be sure to keep you posted on any new developments in this ongoing battle for EV sedan supremacy at the 'Ring.

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