GrandSportC3

many booms. Spent New Years Eve at St. Pete Pier. It was awesome!

skydaman

All this drag racing practice and you havent even run a 9.7 like other Plaid Model X's?

GrandSportC3

I could reduce weight by taking seats out but that's too much work for a tenth or 2 as I would have to put them back again.
I'm 223 lbs which hurts my ETs. Brooks Weisblat ran 9.75 but he is probably 70 - 80 lbs lighter than me which translates to the difference.. Each 10 lbs = 1 hundreds better.. My best was 9.82 and his best was 9.75. 70 lbs = 7 hundreds.
I'm also in the process of losing weight but I'm only losing like 1 or 2 lbs per month..

Last track visit, I staged nearly ideal (very shallow), getting great 60' times (1.57 on back to back runs - not bad for all season tires).

skydaman

You said you have 2 kids, but the Model X has three rows of seats, why put them back in? Could easily take out a row to make up some weight, thats what racing is about! Ohh wait then it would no longer be stock and your excuse would be flawed!

I just looked up the weight on the Plaid, 5,390lbs is absurd! Over double the weight of my Vette. That thing is closer in weight to my superduty!

mudbone64

I feel confident it was.

Imagine going to a fireworks display where there is no "boom". How totally boring would that be? Why would a person even attend a fireworks display if there is no "boom"? Maybe that person would enjoy "light displays" more than that big flash of light followed by the "boom" that hits you square in the chest. Certainly because of the sights and sounds I remember the first fireworks display I ever witnessed as a child. All of this should be an excellent explanation why many here, including myself, have zero use for an EV. There is no internal combustion or "boom", if you will.

GrandSportC3

We often have friends of our kids in the 3rd row, so, we need it occasionally. I also don't have time to remove and re-install. Hellcat Durango has less passenger space and less cargo space and is 5710 lbs.. So, 5400 lbs for a decent size SUV isn't all that heavy. Also, the smaller Jeep Trackhawk is the same weight as the Model X Plaid.

GrandSportC3

I like a nice engine sound but if I have to choose between engine sound and running 11 second 1/4 miles or 9 second and no sound, I'll take the quiet car. The sensation of acceleration is more important to me than engine sound. I don't want an engine sound on a road trip but I would like one going down the track. There are kits with artificial engine sounds playing on outside speakers. Maybe I'll get one. When I had my Vettes, I kept modding and modding to make them quicker and quicker. Acceleration is addicting to me.

skydaman

It has to suck to not have 15 minutes to yourself when your wife doesnt work. Need is relative, you dont run a taxi service. If other peoples kids want to find a way to get somewhere they can arrange transportation.

sublime1996525

Road course on the tires it came with.

GrandSportC3

15 minutes? It's very complex to remove seats on a Tesla. They have airbags in them and you need to trick the system to not throw codes if it won't detect the airbags. It's not like unbolting and removing the seats. It's pretty complex. We also have family and friends visiting and often, it's a lot easier to take 1 instead of 2 cars. Rear seats aren't all that heavy. The middle row captain's chairs do look heavy. Either way, removing the seats won't give me more than maybe .1 to .15 at the track. 9.70 won't feel much different than 9.82. The best mod would be lightweight wheels as 1 lbs rotating mass is like 4 lbs static mass when it comes to racing. I remember that on my 68 Race Vette, I took .35 off my ET with lighter wheels and lightweight brakes. Unplugged Performance sells UP03 wheels which are significantly lighter. They even sell carbon fiber wheels but the price is like $20k.. Not going to spend $20k for just .2 better ET.

GrandSportC3

Do you think that you would beat the lap time of a good driver in a Plaid? Plaids hold records at several road courses now. You would certainly beat me as I have no road race experience.

skydaman

I feel like tires aren't even the overall limiting factor, the OEM brakes will cook attemping to slow that 5,600lb vehicle multiple times. Most lighter production cars cant make it through a typical session with OEM tires and brakes.

skydaman

So far it hasnt taken more than 15 minutes to remove seats from any car no matter if they had heated cooled airbag seats. Its 4 bolts and a couple of connectors. Most every OEM has airbags in the seat, its not rocket science to trick the system anymore. I agree spending $20k for lightweight wheels on a 5000+lb vehicle would place you square in the laughing stock of the century.

mudbone64

This is very cool, likely a challenge to drive and very fast:

This is fast and uh, yea, that's it. It can likely be programmed to not need a human occupant to drive it.

GrandSportC3

I already searched for instructions on youtube. Only thing I found is how to trick the system to avoid the error codes for the airbag. The guy actually cut open the seats to extract the airbags and then plug in the airbags without the seats. Not going to cut open my seats..

skydaman

True we know you're a slave to the warranty. God forbid you do something like remove some seats Then you'd have to call it a pro mod race car. Swap tires and its a top fuel car!

GrandSportC3

One tenth of a second is not worth the effort. Losing weight is a better option to improve my ET. While I can't lose 100 lbs but I could lose 30 - 40 lbs which will also give me .03 to .04 better ET. That should get me into 9.70's.
Removing seats won't void the warranty. Friend of mine had his whole interior gutted for racing and Tesla replaced his battery after it went bad after over 1000 passes in his Model S Raven

vrybad

This thread has lost its way.
More of people trying to convince you that you made a poor choice.
Seriously, GS, it's not worth the energy.

BadAV

It's patently obvious he loves it when people push back. It's why he continues posting these threads and responding.

vrybad

You may be right, I don't know, I don't get it.