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Tesla Model 3 Performance dominates Ford Mustang GT twice in double drag race

[Credit: Drag Racing and Car Stuff/YouTube]

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The Model 3 Performance is Tesla’s first track-capable vehicle. Designed to dominate high-performance sedans like the BMW M3 around a racecourse, the Model 3 Performance is built to be nimble around corners and lightning-quick when accelerating from a straight line.

What’s quite ironic about the Model 3 Performance is that it is not the quickest among Tesla’s offerings in straight-line races. Granted, the electric car is incredibly quick with a 0-60 mph time of 3.5 seconds (Tesla has since updated its specs to 3.3 seconds) and a top speed of 155 mph from its dual electric motors that provide a combined 450 hp and 471 lb-ft of torque, but it’s still outgunned by its larger P-branded siblings — the Model S P100D and the Model X P100D — in straight-line acceleration.

Despite not being Tesla’s quickest straight-line car, the Model 3 Performance is nonetheless developing a reputation for being a formidable force on the quarter-mile. With its subtle design cues, the Model 3 Performance is the perfect sleeper vehicle, particularly since the car’s other variants, such as the Mid Range RWD and the Long Range RWD, are a lot tamer with their 0-60 mph times of 5.6 seconds and 5.1 seconds, respectively.

Once such vehicle recently made an appearance in a quarter-mile meet at the Street Nights at New England Dragway, NH. The Model 3 Performance did not seem to have its carbon fiber spoiler and rear badging installed, though its red brake calipers were visible. A video of the Model 3 Performance’s race was uploaded on the Drag Racing and Car Stuff YouTube channel, where it was featured engaging a Ford Mustang GT in a double drag race.

The racing-themed YouTube channel did not list the year model of the Mustang GT that competed against the Model 3 Performance, but design cues from the vehicle suggest that it was a 2016 Mustang GT S550, an all-American front-engined RWD mass of muscle equipped with a 5.0-liter DOHC 32-valve V8 engine that produces 435-hp and 400 lb-ft of torque. In true muscle car tradition, the 2016 Mustang GT came with a manual transmission, which gave drivers full control.

The Model 3 Performance and the Mustang GT battled each other twice, and in both rounds, the electric-powered machine from Silicon Valley dominated the fossil fuel-powered beast from Detroit. The electric car’s instant torque immediately gave it an advantage in the first race, allowing it to complete the run in 11.86 seconds while traveling at 113.16 mph, faster than the Mustang GT’s 13.03 seconds and 110.26 mph pass. The second bout ended with the same results, with the Model 3 Performance hitting the quarter-mile mark in 11.92 seconds at 113.86 mph. The Mustang GT completed the race in 13.18 seconds at 109.27 mph.

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What’s rather remarkable is that the Model 3 Performance is bound to get better with time. As of date, the vehicles are only shipping with stock software, and are winning drag races with raw power. In a recent announcement on Twitter, Elon Musk noted that Track Mode, a feature which the CEO fondly describes as an “expert user mode” for the Model 3 Performance, will be rolling out soon. What’s more, Elon Musk also announced that Track Mode would be enabled on all Model 3 Performance cars once the update gets released.

With Track Mode enabled, and with other, possible future updates (a Ludicrous Mode upgrade, perhaps?), the Model 3 Performance has all the makings of a monster on both drag strips and racecourses.

Watch the Model 3 Performance battle a Ford Mustang GT twice in the video below.

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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.

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Elon Musk

Tesla primes Cybercabs for 4K streaming and high bandwidth gaming with Starlink integration

Tesla is now shipping Cybercabs from Giga Texas with Starlink hardware built in as standard.

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tesla cybercab with no manual controls showing a movie with two employees inside

Tesla’s Cybercabs are now leaving Gigafactory Texas with Starlink hardware on the rear hatch in significant numbers, according to drone footage captured Tuesday by longtime Austin drone observer Joe Tegtmeyer. Production at the factory ramped back up after the Labor Day weekend, and his flyover of the outbound lot showed rows of gold Cybercabs alongside Model Y Long Wheelbase units, many carrying the satellite module for the first time as standard equipment rather than a one off retrofit.

Tesla first showed Starlink built into an actual Cybercab on August 10, when the Robotaxi account posted images of a single gold unit with the antenna integrated into the roofline above the taillights and called it the first Cybercab with Starlink integration. That followed a July reveal where Tesla and Starlink jointly posted a cutaway diagram of the antenna placement without a working vehicle to back it up. Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s VP of AI software, said at the time that the connection isn’t required for the car to drive itself. It exists mainly for navigation, customer service and keeping tabs on the fleet.

Musk has made a different case in public. During Tesla’s Q2 earnings call, he said the company can’t afford robotaxis stranded in what he called “Bermuda Triangles of lack of cellular connectivity,” and he separately claimed on X that Starlink will eventually reach every Tesla built, calling it the only way to deliver high bandwidth to billions of vehicles. He has also pitched the antenna as an entertainment upgrade, telling riders they would be able to stream 4K video or play games during a trip.

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The rollout has moved fast since. Robotaxi service opened to the public in Austin on September 3, and Cybercabs had already been spotted with Starlink hardware in Houston and near Miami International Airport in the weeks before Tuesday’s factory footage showed the module shipping at volume rather than on scattered test units. Whether the satellite link earns its keep is still an open question. Tesla’s unsupervised service currently runs in dense metro geofences in Texas and Florida, markets where cellular coverage is already strong, which is not where the rural dead zones Musk describes tend to show up.

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Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory

Tesla launched a $350 tailgate track and a $985 lockable Bed Gear Box for Cybertruck.

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Tesla Cybertruck construction site

Tesla’s Cybertruck team added two more items to the Tesla Shop, targeting job site crews and owners who use the truck bed for actual work rather than just showing it off. The official Cybertruck X account posted the Tailgate Utility Track and the Bed Gear Box within minutes of each other, part of a five item batch that also included a reflective jacket, a spray paint hat and an updated reflective tee.

The Tailgate Utility Track runs $350 and turns the folded down tailgate into another mounting surface. It’s a single aluminum track with a T-slot for sliding accessories and two L-track attachment points, plus two load stops included in the box. The pitch is straightforward: strap down oversized cargo, like lumber or a cooler, that hangs off the back of the bed without it sliding out mid-drive. It bolts onto the existing tailgate and works on every Cybertruck trim.

The Bed Gear Box costs $985 and is a different kind of accessory. It’s a lockable aluminum storage box, 55.78 inches long, 19.8 inches wide and 7.79 inches tall, that mounts to the bed’s L-track rails and comes with two internal bins for smaller items. According to Tesla, at just over 57 pounds empty, it’s meant to stay in place rather than come in and out with each trip, giving owners a factory-fit alternative to loose totes for tools, recovery gear or emergency supplies. Tesla’s listing notes that Long Range and Dual Motor AWD Cybertrucks need the L-Tracks accessory installed separately before the Gear Box will mount, since L-tracks come standard only on certain configurations.

Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory

Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory

Both accessories lean on the idea Tesla has been building toward since Elon Musk first described the Cybertruck’s third-party attachment strategy at the 2023 shareholder meeting, when he said the truck would ship with mounting points so outside companies, and Tesla itself, could keep adding gear without redesigning the bed. That’s the same L-track backbone underneath the tailgate shield and jumpseats Tesla launched last year, and the off-road armor package that arrived through the same X account in 2025.

Owners looking to round out the rest of the L-track ecosystem, cargo dividers, MOLLE panels, bed racks and similar gear, can find a wider range of options through our Cybertruck accessories collection.

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Elon Musk says he knows how to save Earth for a billion years

Elon Musk says sentient AI satellites launched from the Moon could keep Earth livable forever.

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Elon Musk spent part of his weekend describing a plan to keep the planet livable for roughly a billion years, and it starts with satellites that can think for themselves.

In a post on X, Musk argued that swapping fossil fuels for solar and wind power will not be enough to protect humanity from what he called extremely severe extinction events, the kind that occur roughly every 100 million years. His fix is what he called sentient satellites, or solar-powered satellites, controlled by AI, that would sit in a fixed spot between Earth and the Sun after being launched off the Moon using a giant electromagnetic catapult instead of rockets.

The satellites’ onboard AI would make continuous, small adjustments rather than waiting on human instructions. The mass driver is Musk’s proposed way of getting the raw material there cheaply by using an electromagnetic launch track built on the Moon, where lower gravity and no atmosphere make it far easier to fling cargo into space than it is from Earth.

Musk shared a Grok generated estimate suggesting roughly 5 percent of Florida’s land, or about 1.68 million acres, could face regular flooding by 2070 under a high sea level rise scenario, and said humanity has about 50 years to act before coastal living looks very different than it does today.

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This is not the first time Musk has floated the idea. He raised a similar concept in November, describing a solar powered AI satellite constellation that could make tiny adjustments to incoming sunlight to fine tune Earth’s temperature. Musk has also tied planetary risk to his broader vision at SpaceX, where his compensation package is explicitly linked to establishing a self-sustaining Mars colony, one he has described as an insurance policy against the kind of extinction event he referenced this weekend, and where he has said humans could set foot within five to seven years.

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