Lifestyle
Unplugged Tesla Model S and Model 3 win double podium finishes at Gridlife Laguna
A Tesla Model S Plaid and a reengineered Model 3 Performance from EV tuning house Unplugged Performance participated in the Gridlife Laguna Festival at the Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca. The twin Teslas ended the event with a rare double podium finish.
The Gridlife Laguna Festival did not have a lot of electric vehicles that participated in the event. In a comment to Teslarati, Unplugged Performance development driver and experienced EV racer Craig Coker mentioned that there were fewer than five electric cars at Gridlife Laguna. Both vehicles competed in Gridlife’s TrackBattle series, which features practice, qualifying, and a final podium sprint. The team’s Model S Plaid, a Pikes Peak sub-10-minute club member called Dark Helmet, competed in the Unlimited Class, and the Model S Performance, called Red Rocket, competed in the Street GT Class.
Unique Racers
What is interesting about Unplugged Performance’s twin Tesla racers is the fact that they are very different from what one might expect from a vehicle that’s built to be competitive in a racing event. While Dark Helmet features aggressive aero and a stripped-out interior, it still features a stock drivetrain, battery, and software from Tesla. Conventional racecars powered by the internal combustion engine are typically modified so they can put out more power.
Such a statement is even more accurate for Red Rocket. The reengineered Model 3 Performance competed in the Street GT Class, which is a category for production cars with restrictions on tire width and factory aero components. Similar to Dark Helmet, whose modifications are mostly comprised of Unplugged Performance’s Apex-S Model S series, Red Rocket’s modifications are comprised of the EV tuner’s Ascension-R parts.
In a comment to Teslarati, Craig Coker noted that Red Rocket is easily daily driven, so much so that the vehicle was driven by the Unplugged team to the event, unlike Dark Helmet, which was transported to Laguna Seca via trailer pulled by a Tesla Cybertruck. That speaks to the reengineered Model 3 Performance’s capabilities, and it also highlights how the EV tuner’s parts could still be useful for everyday use.
“The 2024 Model 3 Performance we competed with, I would definitely take to the streets, get groceries and take my kids to school. In fact, we drove it to Laguna Seca from LA. Then we competed in it and then drove it back to LA,” Craig Coker said.
The Podium Sprint
The twin Teslas both qualified for the podium sprint in their respective classes, despite some challenges such as Dark Helmet spinning out in one lap. Despite spinning out, Dark Helmet still qualified for the event’s podium sprint. Red Rocket accomplished the same thing, placing second in its class and qualifying for the podium sprint. The Model 3 Performance’s podium sprint ended with a 1:35.666 lap, allowing the vehicle to place second overall in the Gridlife Street GT Class. Dark Helmet completed its podium attempt lap in 1:28.465, allowing the all-electric racer to place third overall in the Unlimited Class. Both vehicles also set all wheel drive records for Street GT for Red Rocket and the Unlimited Class for Dark Helmet.
Craig Coker shared a comment about this year’s Gridlife event, as well as the performance of the twin Unplugged Teslas. “These events are always interesting as we are one of the few EV’s to compete. There are 100’s of vehicles on track over the weekend but less than five EVs in the mix. Sometimes we are hated, sometimes we are made fun of, and sometimes people love what we do.
“But there is one thing no one can deny. When we show up to the track we are consistent in setting records, or a podium, or occasionally both. At Gridlife Laguna this year we went beyond and surprised many with not one but two podiums with two different vehicles in two separate classes. This is a very rare achievement. It could only be achieved with a hardworking and talented pit crew by my side,” he said.
Unplugged Performance CEO Ben Schaffer celebrated the twin Tesla’s achievements at the event.
“The UP Race team, along with our development driver Craig Coker, did a fantastic job. We brought out two Laguna Seca record-holding vehicles: the production EV lap record-holding Model S Plaid, ‘Dark Helmet,’ and our 2024 Model 3 Performance, ‘Red Rocket,’ which holds the lap record for the Model 3 Performance class. Both cars performed reliably against a highly competitive grid of the fastest ICE vehicles and drivers in the country.
“The Model 3 set the Gridlife Laguna Seca fastest lap record for Street Class AWD, while the Model S continues to hold the Unlimited Class AWD lap record. Craig secured two podium finishes, demonstrating the true driving performance of Tesla engineering when paired with the same Unplugged Performance catalog parts our clients enjoy worldwide. EVs deserve a place in motorsports and we remain thrilled to be a rare representative of EV performance in challenging the fastest ICE vehicles at events globally,” Schaffer stated.
The Next Stop
With Gridlife Laguna now complete, the Unplugged Performance team is now focused on the upcoming race at Thunderhil, which is expected to be held next month.
“Gridlife announced a new west coast championship for 2024 called FCP Euro Pacific Championship. It’s a 3 stop event. Willow Springs, Laguna Seca and Thunderhill. So far we have captured 1st at Willow Springs Raceway, 3rd at Laguna Seca in the Unlimited Class. We are currently P1 in overall points. If we do well at Thunderhill next month we can win the championship. That would be a huge accomplishment for an EV to win this inaugural championship!” Coker said.
There are only a few cars in the hyper-competitive world of automotive racing that are capable of changing the perception of what is possible for a production car. At the track, where victory and defeat are separated by milliseconds, few cars could make an impact large enough that even critics are silenced. As it turns out, the Model S Plaid and the Model 3 Performance—improved by bolt-on parts—could be these vehicles.
Watch a video of the Unplugged Tesla team at the Gridlife Laguna Seca event below.
Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.
Elon Musk
How to use Grok Bot to block spam calls and texts
Musk told users to ask Grok Bot to scrub their phone numbers from spam lists.
Elon Musk has a new use case for Grok Bot, and it is the spam call. On Thursday he replied to an X user named Arash with a short instruction: “Ask your @Grok @Bot to remove your phone number from spam call & text lists!” Arash had said he got tired of the calls, had an AI bot find his number on listing sites and file removal requests, and packaged the process as a free skill for others.
The skill is called Spam-Call Scrubber, which is described to find a phone number on people search sites and data brokers, submits the opt outs, completes the confirmation emails those sites send back, and rechecks on a schedule the user picks. Using it requires the Grok Bot app. The pitch is time saved, since most broker opt outs sit behind separate forms on separate sites.
Ask your @Grok @Bot to remove your phone number from spam call & text lists!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2026
Musk said Grok Bot now gives each bot its own email address, and that it can detect scam emails. On Thursday he also said SpaceX would make users whole if the bot botches a purchase or leaks a card, then told users to shop away from Amazon after the retailer blocked the agent, as Teslarati reported. The terms of service we reviewed at the time put responsibility for what an agent does on the user.
For Tesla owners, Grok Bot is not just a phone app. Tesla brought Grok Bot into its vehicles on September 22, and we argued earlier this week that the Cybercab’s real advantage may be the errands it runs during a ride. Every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y Robotaxi fleet has it enabled. The more routine tasks like this one become, the more a rider has reason to hand over something personal in the back seat.
The new Spam-Call Scrubber skill can be downloaded for free and works on sites that honor removal requests, while noting that listings can reappear, and illegal robocallers do not check any registry. Whether Spam-Call Scrubber cuts anyone’s call volume is something the first wave of users will find out, and Musk’s endorsement guarantees that wave is coming.
For a century, the car has asked the same thing of its owner, which is basically to pay attention. Even the best ride-hailing app like Uber or Lyft only moved the problem into someone else’s hands. You stopped driving, but you still sat in a stranger’s car, while half listening, and wondering whether to take a phone call in the car without being rude. The Cybercab has no wheel, no pedals and no driver. With Grok @bot now live inside it, it becomes something else entirely, and I think that matters more than the fleet count that everyone is tracking.
Grok @bot is an agent, not a voice assistant. A rider signs in once, and from then on can say what they need and watch it happen. Order dinner from a favorite restaurant. Fill the grocery cart. Move money, answer email, adjust a calendar, push a work project forward. Tesla engineer Yun-Ta Tsai confirmed it is enabled across every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y fleet, and Tesla’s own pitch is that Full Self-Driving handles the commute while Grok handles the errands.
Think about what that does to a thirty minute ride. Uber sells you a trip, while Waymo sells you the same trip in a more private setting. Tesla is selling the thirty minutes themselves, returned to you with an assistant attached. Errands that used to eat a Saturday get done between pickup and drop off. The ride stops being dead time between two places and becomes a place of its own.
Tesla integrates Grok Bot into its vehicles for the ultimate personal assistant
Best of all, your Bots follow you into any Cybercab, and presumably your own Tesla, then logs you out automatically when you step out. Anyone can bolt a chatbot onto a screen, but much harder to own the vehicle, the autonomy stack and the assistant at once. It also quietly ties SpaceX’s Super Intelligence business to Tesla’s fleet, after Tesla converted its xAI stake into SpaceX equity. The relationship between those two companies is getting harder to describe as separate.
This is also where the hard questions start, because an agent that can spend your money in a vehicle other people also ride in needs some answers. How does it handle a voice it shouldn’t trust? What gets recorded, who can see it, and for how long? What happens when a rider leaves halfway through a task?
If Tesla gets those answers right, the scoreboard changes. We have been counting Cybercabs and wait times. The more telling number may be what riders accomplish per trip. That is data almost no one else will ever have, and it is the real reason to watch Grok @bot.
What do you think? Leave me a comment.
Lifestyle
Tesla’s mirrorless Cybercab will give riders a visibility upgrade
Tesla engineer confirms Cybercab update letting riders pull up rear and repeater cameras on demand.
Tesla is working on a Cybercab update that would let passengers pull up the vehicle’s rear and side cameras on demand, and the request came straight from a rider.
The exchange played out on X late Friday. Cybercab rider Dan Burkland shared photos of the two-seater’s cabin screen after an evening ride, praised the UI team’s work, and left one request: let riders open the rear and repeater cameras whenever they want, “especially for peace of mind.” Tesla UI software engineer Evan (@CarCoder) answered with two words: “In development.”
The Tesla UI team absolutely crushed it with the infotainment software. Nicely done @CarCoder!
One feature request: Allow folks to pull up the rear & repeater cameras on demand. This would be great especially for peace of mind. https://t.co/mNAOSLx6pE
— Dan Burkland (@DBurkland) October 10, 2026
The idea fits a pattern Teslarati has tracked since public rides began. Days after paid Cybercab service opened in Austin, Tesla sent riders a survey that asked them to rate the touchscreen, the app and the cabin, and to pick the features they wanted most. We reported on that survey in September, and a camera view is the kind of small software change Tesla can push quickly if riders keep asking.
It also speaks to something unique about the vehicle. With no steering wheel, no pedals and no driver, passengers have no mirror to check and no way to see behind them. The hardware is clearly built for camera awareness, from the repeater cameras to the rear camera. Letting a passenger look through those same cameras would give a nervous first time rider a way to confirm what is around the car.
The timing matters because the fleet is growing fast. Tesla’s Robotaxi account said on Saturday that more than 300 Cybercabs are now serving Austin, an eightfold increase in 30 days, and Tesla AI chief Ashok Elluswamy named Dallas as the next city. More cars and more cities mean more people riding in a driverless vehicle for the first time, which is exactly when small trust features carry weight.
For now, the feature is confirmed only as in development. If Tesla follows its usual pattern with Cybercab software, riders could see it appear in a point release without any announcement, and Teslarati will watch for it.
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