The Tesla Model S Plaid is advertised as having a top speed of 200mph (321km/h), however the top speed is currently software locked and limited to 175mph (281km/h) when in Track Mode. No one knows when Tesla will unlock the top speed.
Not content to wait around and find out, the team at the Quebec-based tuner Ingenext has worked their magic and blown Tesla’s top speed out of the water. At a recent high speed run at the Aéroport de Trois-Rivières, their modified Model S Plaid hit a top speed of 217mph (350km/h).
To put that number into perspective, that is basically the same top speed as the Porsche 918 Spyder (218mph) and the Ferrari Enzo (218mph), both of which sold for close to $1 million when brand new.
The CEO of Ingenext, Guillaume André, shared a video of the high speed run on Facebook, and the Plaid sounds more like a jet airplane than a daily-driven electric sedan that you can also take to the grocery store.
UPDATE 11:04am PST: Here is another video from Guillame with an in-car view of the top speed run, showing the top speed was actually 216mph, or 347km/h.
We don’t know the exact details of what was done to this Model S Plaid to allow it to reach such an insane top speed. The company of course doesn’t want to share all of their secrets, but did tell Drive Tesla the car had one of their Ingenext modules installed and had upgraded tires and brakes.
This isn’t the first time Ingenext has pushed this Plaid to its limits. Earlier this month on the same day that a different Model S Plaid with a stripped out interior set a new quarter-mile record, they set what at the time was a new top speed record.
The car did five top speed runs at the ‘Race The Half’ event on a half-mile airstrip at La Tuque airport. The first run saw the car reach 295km/h, before eventually hitting its top speed of 305.7km/h (190mph) on the third run.
It wasn’t a one-off as another run clocked in at 304.8km/h (189.4mph), and another at 303.0km/h (188.2mph). Unfortunately one run was not officially counted as the speed trap equipment malfunctioned.
If those speeds weren’t impressive enough, video from the event shows the Plaid reached over 300km/h in about 16 seconds.
To make sure it stayed fully charged during the event, the team even brought out their own fast charger in the back of a Chevy Volt.
Here are some videos taken during the event. One is of the Plaid going up against a modified Nissan Skyline and Mercedes GT, and another is a view from inside the car on one of its high speed runs.
https://twitter.com/SylDrax/status/1535792371442810880
