Connect with us

Lifestyle

Tesla Model 3 shows off cornering prowess in impressive autocross run

Published

on

The Tesla Model 3 recently proved its worth in an autocross course at ZMax Dragway in Charlotte, NC. Despite being completely stock, the vehicle performed admirably during its runs, planting itself on the track and taking advantage of its electric motor’s instant torque to propel itself hard around corners.

In a written communication with Teslarati, Chestley Couch, the owner of the Model 3, stated that the instructor he had with him during his first run was pleasantly surprised at the vehicle’s performance, considering that it was completely stock. Chestley further noted that overall, the Model 3 exhibited similar times around the autocross track as the Subaru BRZ, the Mazda Miata, and the BMW Z3 — cars that he has driven in the past.

The Model 3 had 75% battery when it began its runs, and over the course of five laps around the track, never once did the car lose power, with the vehicle averaging 1480 Wh/mi. During his entire autocross session, Chestley noted that he did not even hear the Model 3’s cooling fans kick in at all. Responding to a comment on YouTube, the Tesla owner stated that the electric car “could have run all day.”

If there’s one point of improvement that could be seen in the video of the Model 3’s autocross run, it was the fact that the vehicle exhibited some understeer at the most challenging parts of the track. Tire noise was also audible as the electric car was pushed from one corner to the next. As noted by Chestley, however, this could partly be due to the fact that he used the 18-inch OEM tires that his Model 3 came with. With a better set of tires, such as the 19-inch or 20-inch Sport Wheels that Tesla offers, the Model 3 could have performed better.

Overall, Chestley was thoroughly impressed with his Model 3’s autocross course performance. The Model 3 owner noted that he believes the upcoming dual-motor AWD variant will be even more impressive in autocross events, and that there’s a good chance the compact electric car would be the vehicle of choice for those who would like to take their Teslas to the track for some spirited driving.

Advertisement

“Not having to shift gears and the instant torque  were a huge advantage in the turns. The AWD version  will be very competitive. The (Model) 3 is a blast to drive. Where the Model S is more of a cruiser, I think you see a lot more people racing Model 3s when they become more common,” Chestley wrote.

The Model 3’s recent autocross run at Charlotte, NC stands as yet another notable example of the electric car’s capability to be driven hard for extended periods of time. Last March, we reported on a Tesla owner driving his mostly stock Model 3 for several laps at the Laguna Seca Raceway, in what could very well be the first real-world high-performance test of the vehicle. Just like Chestley’s experience in the autocross course, the Model 3 lasted the entire racing session at Laguna Seca without limiting its power.

Prior to the Model 3, Tesla’s cars such as the Model S have exhibited tendencies to limit their power and speed when driven hard on a track. As noted by professional race car driver Robb Holland when he took the full-sized sedan around 12.9-mile Nurburgring, the Model S’s track performance gets compromised by its software, which protects the car’s batteries from generating too much heat.

Check out the Tesla Model 3’s autocross course run in the video below.

Advertisement

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

Advertisement
Comments

Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s answer to Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey got way more specific

Published

on

By

Elon Musk escalated his monthslong feud with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey this week, pledging that his own AI video tool will produce a competing version before the year is out. Responding to a fan-made, AI-generated clip of the ancient epic, Musk wrote on X, “Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer.”

In June, Musk quoted an xAI-shared trailer built entirely with Grok Imagine Video 1.5, a two-minute-plus reimagining of The Odyssey styled after a 1970s classical Hollywood epic, and predicted “full movies by the end of the year,” as Teslarati reported at the time. That trailer, built from 36 consistent shots by a single creator, was Musk’s proof of concept. This week’s pledge turns that prediction into a specific commitment, tied directly to Homer’s text rather than a generic demo.


When a fan separately proposed that Musk fund a live-action alternative, to “give Mel Gibson $100 million to film an Odyssey adaptation with painstakingly historically accurate ships, armour, weapons, and casting, with all dialogue taken straight from the original poem and delivered in Homeric Greek,” Musk replied with two words: “I’m down.”

The Grok Imagine pledge lands as the tool’s underlying infrastructure has changed hands. Grok is no longer a standalone product, it folded into SpaceXAI after SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI closed in February, meaning the compute behind any Odyssey production traces back to the same Colossus supercomputers now bundled into SpaceX’s pitch to investors. Musk has separately said SpaceX’s own engineering data is being fed into the next major Grok training run, a two trillion parameter model he’s called the “2T run.”

Advertisement

Whether Grok Imagine can sustain a feature length narrative, rather than a series of impressive individual shots, remains the open question.

Continue Reading

Cybertruck

Tesla Mobile App gets a new feature that wrap fans are going to love

Tesla’s Summer Update removes the USB drive step from customizing your car’s digital wrap design.

Published

on

By

Tesla’s latest 2026 Summer Update quietly closes out one of the more tedious steps in personalizing a Tesla’s digital appearance. Uploading a custom wrap design used to require a USB drive. Now it doesn’t.

The feature is listed in Tesla’s release notes as “Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App.” The company described it plainly: “Skip the USB drive and upload a custom wrap of your car from the mobile app. Instructions for creating a custom wrap here: github.com/teslamotors/custom-wraps.”

The digital wrap tool has been around since Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update, when it launched for Cybertruck owners first, as Teslarati reported at the time. Getting a design onto the car meant formatting a USB drive, creating a folder named exactly “Wraps,” dropping in PNG files sized between 512×512 and 1024×1024 pixels and under 1 MB each, then plugging the drive in and applying the wrap through Toybox. Tesla expanded the tool to other models and renamed it from “Colorizer” to “Paint Shop” with the 2025 Holiday Update, while also adding license plate and window tint customization alongside the wraps.

Advertisement

The latest Summer Update removes the USB step from that process. Owners will be able to pull a design from wherever they saved it, whether that’s a download from social media or something built from Tesla’s own GitHub templates, and push it to the car directly through the app.

Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more

It’s a small fix relative to the rest of this latest release, which also included expanded Grok voice commands, automatic navigation that learns regular routes, and self-driving stats inside the mobile app, all detailed in our rundown of the full Summer Update. The USB requirement was one of the more common complaints about Paint Shop since it launched. Tesla did not say when the wrap upload change would reach individual vehicles, only that the broader update is rolling out now in waves.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Tesla Diner is throwing a birthday party with a Franz-signed special treat

Tesla Diner turns one on July 21 with Optimus, roller skates, and a Franz-signed hat.

Published

on

By

tesla diner

Tesla is throwing its Hollywood Diner a first birthday party on July 21 and the celebration comes with a guest list of unique items, including a limited run of Tesla Diner birthday hats personally signed by Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen for the first 50 customers who place an in-car order at midnight.

One year after lines wrapped around the block on Santa Monica Boulevard for a diner that most of the restaurant industry did not take seriously, Tesla is making the case that the concept was worth the years it took to build. The concept had been in Musk’s head since at least 2018, when he floated the idea of “an old school drive-in, roller skates and rock restaurant” on X, describing it years later as “‘Grease’ meets ‘The Jetsons’ with Supercharging.”

Tesla Optimus Gen 3 is coming to the Tesla Diner with new ambitions

 

What made the diner genuinely different from any restaurant that came before it was not the menu or the nostalgia. It was the ordering model. Tesla owners could place food orders directly from their vehicle’s touchscreen before arriving, a small feature that hints at something much larger on the horizon. As the Cybercab and unsupervised FSD expand across major cities, the diner model becomes a template for an entirely new kind of commerce. A robotaxi pulling in to charge does not need a human to walk up to a counter. The vehicle places the order, the food is ready on arrival, and the passenger never interrupts the experience of being driven somewhere else. It is the first glimpse of what drive-through commerce looks like when the car is doing the driving.

Advertisement

As Teslarati has reported, Musk signaled immediately after opening that the Hollywood location was only the beginning, posting that Tesla would expand the concept to major cities worldwide and along Supercharger corridors on long-distance routes if the first location proved successful. One year in, the birthday celebration on July 21 makes a strong case that it has. Tesla announced a full day of events including a Cybercab on display, a birthday menu, Optimus in attendance, face painting, a photo booth, roller skating servers, a light show, a Skypad DJ, and complimentary collectibles.

If Musk’s ambition holds, the Hollywood diner is year one of something much bigger. The birthday party is the proof of concept. The robotaxi fleet is the business model waiting behind it.

Advertisement
Continue Reading