The Tesla Model Y might look like the ultimate mom car, with its SUV posture and room for a few booster seats in the back, but Mountain Pass Performance had a different vision in mind. Sort of. The Model Y had a few bolt-in mods added to it and then took to the track and showed a few Porsche owners that the future really is electric after all.
Image courtesy: Mountain Pass Performance
Okay, so they did pull the baby seats out before hitting the track, but compared to the fully modified race rigs it was running against, Mountain Pass Performance’s Tesla Model Y Performance may as well have had them in. The few bolt-in upgrades they threw onto it included series-mandated tires and larger wheels, a big brake upgrade, coilovers, and suspension arms.
- Wheels: Volk Racing TE37 20×11
- Tires: Pirelli Trofeo-R 285/35/20 (spec tire for the Time Attack event)
- MPP Parts: Coilovers, STR-60 Big Brake Kit, Front Upper Control Arms, Rear Camber Arms, Rear Toe Arms, Brake Lines, Lightweight 12V Battery
The crazy thing about this kit is that the Mountain Pass Performance team hadn’t even tuned everything to play nicely together or disabled traction control when they first hit the track. They were planning to do that the following day and just hit the Time Attack event for fun to see how the Model Y held up.
Image courtesy: Mountain Pass Performance
In what turned out to be a comedy of errors, the Model Y ended up having to compete in the ultra competitive Super Street AWD class, which meant the modified mom car was going to be competing against the likes of a 650+ horsepower 991 Porsche Turbo S and a 600 hp AWD Converted Integra Time Attack car.
In between track runs, the Mountain Pass Performance team worked feverishly to tune the suspension and was even able to disable the factory traction control system. This midday feat was accomplished largely due to their experience hacking on the Model 3’s stability control system, allowing the team to get some of the benefits of Tesla’s yet-to-be-released Track Mode before it’s actually released.
How did they fare, you may ask? If you know anything about the owner of Mountain Pass Performance, Sasha Anis, you probably have an idea. He is an absolute beast on the track and even brought a camera along for a few runs so that you can get an idea of how the Model Y Performance handles on the track. After the tires cooled down and the dust settled, the Mountain Pass Performance Tesla Model Y came in 8th out of 47 vehicles in the heavily modified class, besting an impressive lineup of cars, including a Porsche 991 911 GT3, a BMW M3, a Corvette, an M2, an M4, an STi, a Golf R, and a Civic Type R.
Image courtesy: Mountain Pass Performance
They detailed the full adventure in a blog post that is well worth reading, if only as a comedy. As Sasha put it in his blog post, “It was fun to beat up on some cars with a Model 3, but doing it with an SUV makes it that much more entertaining.” I guess it’s not just me who thinks it’s hilarious that a lightly modified fully electric SUV put a whole host of heavily modified track cars to shame. The future is electric, on and off the track.
Feel free to use my Tesla referral code for your Tesla Solar purchase if you’re inclined to see if they are a good fit. Currently, you’ll get a $100 reward for using a referral code like mine. If you use my code (https://ts.la/kyle623), I also get a reward from Tesla which help us be more financially sustainable here at CleanTechnica.
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
