The Tesla Model 3 Loses Its Zero-Emission Status As It Burns Through Tires On The Track
For better or worse, the Tesla Model 3 is taking up smoking — enterprising racers are learning to disengage the overbearing factory traction control. As it comes from the factory, the Model 3 is tuned to be a completely zero-emissions vehicle and that includes tires.
It takes some serious effort and willpower to get the thing to break traction, which is great for most driving, but for the crazy ones out there who want to spend a weekend spinning in circles drifting around a course for a weekend — smoking a set or two of tires in the process — traction control has to go.
Instagrammer karrrlosss is one of these people and headed out to the track with his modified Model 3 to put the hurt on a set of tires. For our viewing pleasure, he recorded the whole thing, which you can see below.
The in-car camera is really neat to see, as it lets you see what the driver is doing and how the car reacts. It is clear that the car still doesn’t behave like a normal petrol-powered racer, but would you even want it to? It packs lots of torque right out of the gate, making the delicate dance with the accelerator pedal a different type of game.
For those who are not as interested in learning about what the driver was doing to make the car spin around, someone also caught the dance on camera from the outside. This angle is more exciting for me and similarly reveals just how different the behavior is of the car compared to what the driver is used to.
It also has me wanting the capability to override the factory traction control at a whim — though I would inevitably pay for that with an increase in tire replacements.
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