https://www.youtube.com/embed/jzNbE3edVy0
Dean Rhodes was tired of the negativity towards Tesla and other electric cars, so he decided to do something about it. He bought a 2018 Tesla Model 3 Performance and started autocrossing it.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/jzNbE3edVy0
Dean Rhodes was tired of the negativity towards Tesla and other electric cars, so he decided to do something about it. He bought a 2018 Tesla Model 3 Performance and started autocrossing it.
Love it!
Super cool discussion and great footage. I've got a friend who just got a Model 3 and adores it. I've not driven it yet, but he says it's a ton of fun.
I did drive another friend's Model S a little bit and that was a terrific car.
We just had two model 3's show up at our first event and they did surprisingly well in the hands of inexperienced drivers.
It's weird seeing a car run with only the sound of the tires.
That IS an impressive car. What's next? It picks us up at the front of the motel, takes us to the track, and we watch it autocross? "We just had two model 3's show up at our first event and they did surprisingly well in the hands of inexperienced drivers."
Car and driver did performance tests versus the BMW M3 and not only was the Tesla faster in a straight line, but faster on the track as well. Mind you that was for a single lap. I doubt that the Tesla's cooling is adequate to sustain a full lapping session.
NermalSnert said:That IS an impressive car. What's next? It picks us up at the front of the motel, takes us to the track, and we watch it autocross? "We just had two model 3's show up at our first event and they did surprisingly well in the hands of inexperienced drivers."
My head kinda hurts thinking about that one. I robot here we come.
Had one show up at our first autocross of the season - Model 3 Performance pack.
It drove like it was on the heavy side, but dear Bob, could that thing dig out of the slow spots. Astounding acceleration for a daily driver sedan.
They're taking off and the supercharger network is robust enough for even the craziest of events with minimal inconvenience compared to the ICE vehicles.
Only 150 extra miles across the week to get to superchargers...
In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
Given the length of the track and the long straights that's pretty impressive.
Looks like it would be quicker with harder suspension.
spacecadet said:They're taking off and the supercharger network is robust enough for even the craziest of events with minimal inconvenience compared to the ICE vehicles.
Only 150 extra miles across the week to get to superchargers...
It's not impossible, We just haven't figured out how to do it yet.
It should be noted the Model 3 had enough cooling for three laps flat out at Road America, plus a sighting lap at unknown pace. The P100D slowed noticeably on its third lap there.
bcp2011 said:In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
Given the length of the track and the long straights that's pretty impressive.
Yeah. It was interesting because the Model 3 was driven very differently there, going to Regen with a quarter of the front straight to go.
The Model 3 was also 7th overall for the raining wet morning session at Hastings, which chuffed the guy that wrote the wet traction code, and won the luxury class and was there to watch it.
In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
Article also says they had brake problems at RA which contributed to the long regen requirements
Have you guys seen the video of the model 3 playing in the snow? Turn on sport mode, and it actually regulates your slip angle on ice... tickle the **** outta me, Elmo!
There's a couple that show up to the autocross here. Like fanfoy said, its wild watching them just fly by with just the sound of the wind and the tires. Really keeps you on your toes when shagging cones! They're darn quick out there too.
Well I got an email last week for an "affordable" lease offer on a model 3.
But I do think they are cool as heck.
I would love to autox one.
I'm going to keep my FoRS as long as I possibly can, but this is in the running to replace it.
Looks like Dean's co-driver Tom got a 4th place trophy against a bunch of fast Camaro's and BMW's. I know first-hand that Terry Tabor is a great driver, so to be able to best him is quite the feat.
In reply to jstein77 :
Funny, as I didn’t realize till reading this thread that you could grab one of these for around the same price as a FoRS.
Also, I just saw my first one in the wild like 10 minutes ago.
I’m currently driving 80 miles a day, and spending $100/week on gas, so this could totally make sense.
That said, I’m hoping my commute will drop to zero miles/day in the next year. Decisions decisions. It’d be great if I could lease one, but the mileage would be a killer.
That was pretty cool to watch, it looked really damn quick. I've often thought that if I were to get a Model 3, I'd go with the regular RWD model, but it seems like a lot of the "magic" in the Tesla is the torque vectoring they can do between axles. Maybe I'll have to reconsider my daydreaming 
With that said, he says that he made the video to counter negativity about Teslas, I'm not sure he's really going to do a whole lot in that regard. I KNOW the cars are badass, most of my negative thoughts about Teslas come more from the CEO/company and the annoying internet fan-base than the vehicles themselves. Tesla has had only three profitable quarters in 10 years with Tesla and its a pretty well-known fact in the automotive engineering world that they vastly underpay their engineering talent and then try to made it up with equity. That equity however, is constantly being diluted by selling more shares to raise money because they can't actually turn a profit. How is that, in any way, sustainable? If I buy one of these, is Tesla going to be around in 10 years to support me with maintenance parts?
I can't imagine how Porsche and BMW aren't going to stomp Tesla's face into the ground when they introduce a product with modern OEM build quality AND modern battery tech AND intelligent R&D to continuously improve the product.
They're very fast in prosolo formats where their low speed dig is put to maximum use.
These are the Fontana Prosolo Results
https://www.scca.com/events/1992937-2019-tire-rack-fontana-prosolo
In reply to rothwem :
Amazon is also famous for having 0 or less cumulative profit for the first 10 years.
Then after 20 years they made 1.5 billion in a single quarter. Probably was worth the wait.
By the way, thanks to whoever pitched this to jalopnik. They ran a piece on it last night and views spiked. More eyes = more reason and support for us to produce cool content. So, yeah, thanks.
I rode shotgun today with my buddy David Whitener in his Model 3 Performance today.
Holy. berkeleying. E36 M3.
First time he's ever autocross the car after taking delivery this past Monday. He took it to MSR Cresson on Thursday to turn laps as well.
I'm waiting for official results for where he placed in Pax... but he was not far off pace and he was on PS4S. Which are a good tire... but 1-1.5 seconds off pace at least on a 45-60 course.
Thats Jeremy Foley Grided behind him in the 1M.... Last year's national BS champion. He and David were within striking distance of Foley's fastest times in the 1M.. even on the slower tires... Jeremy drove the Tesla as wel and got out shaking his head... and remember this is their first time driving this car ever...
I have ridden in fast cars with very fast drivers over the past 4 and a half years. the Tesla accelerates like nothing I've ever experienced.... It makes the STH audi TT look like a automatic Camry...
The on throttle dynamics are unbelievable, it rotates and then digs coming out of corners...
David also says it does 30-80 faster than his wife's C7-Zo6.
spacecadet said:I rode shotgun today with my buddy David Whitener in his Model 3 Performance today.
Holy. berkeleying. E36 M3.
First time he's ever autocross the car after taking delivery this past Monday. He took it to MSR Cresson on Thursday to turn laps as well.
I'm waiting for official results for where he placed in Pax... but he was not far off pace and he was on PS4S. Which are a good tire... but 1-1.5 seconds off pace at least on a 45-60 course.
Thats Jeremy Foley Grided behind him in the 1M.... Last year's national BS champion. He and David were within striking distance of Foley's fastest times in the 1M.. even on the slower tires... Jeremy drove the Tesla as wel and got out shaking his head... and remember this is their first time driving this car ever...
I have ridden in fast cars with very fast drivers over the past 4 and a half years. the Tesla accelerates like nothing I've ever experienced.... It makes the STH audi TT look like a automatic Camry...
The on throttle dynamics are unbelievable, it rotates and then digs coming out of corners...
David also says it does 30-80 faster than his wife's C7-Zo6.
There is a video out there of a 700+hp Trackhawk losing to a Tesla(dont know what the SUV model name is) from a dig. It has 100hp less but the electric motor just scoots away and by the time the Trackhawk started catching up it was at the 1/4 or so. It was shockingly quick.
There is a local guy who autocrosses a model 3 on RE71's and its posted a raw time within a tenth of FTD at almost every event. Nothing more than a set of wheels/tires on it and its basically FTD. Insane.
In reply to kevinatfms :
The dynamics of how it pulls out of corners is phenomenal..
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