Watch Tesla Model S Plaid Set a New Unofficial EV Record at Laguna Seca

It's been proven that the Model 3 Performance with the Track Package installed can handle itself pretty well on a circuit, with only the relentless nature of the Nordschleife still posing problems for the EVs battery temperature management. Other than the Green Hell, the electric sedan is more than capable of sustaining a few good laps at full blast on a track of reasonable length.

However, it's actually the Model S Plaid and Plaid Plus that everyone is holding their breath for, and that's because the early bits of information we've had so far sound truly exciting. Up to this point, Tesla hasn't said more than it needed to about the upcoming tri-motor sedans, and the only trinkets of actual performance only came when Lucid's Air threatened to steal the limelight by posting record-fast Laguna Seca lap times.

Well, with Lucid remaining silent over the past few months, so did Tesla, but it's not hard to imagine that the new vehicle's testing has continued behind closed doors. But the thing with an open-air racetrack such as the Laguna Seca is that it doesn't really have doors you can close to keep prying eyes away.

Some intrepid Tesla fans managed to get close enough to the track to take out their cameras and film the action, and thanks to their antics—as well as awareness to spot the performance—we can now suspect the Tesla Model S Plaid (perhaps even Plaid Plus) is capable of going under the 1:30.0 mark for a flying lap around the famous Californian track.

The assumption is based on the raw footage captured by The Kilowatts and doesn't rely on precision timing; it actually relies on eye measurements for deciding when to start and when to stop the clock. Still, thanks to one building masking a section of the track's straight, setting a reliable marker was made a lot easier.

According to The Kilowatts, the red Model S managed to complete a full lap in 1:29.92, improving the car's previous time by almost 0.4 seconds. It may not sound like much, but there are two things you should bear in mind: one, the guys only filmed a few laps, so quicker ones might have gone unnoticed; and two, that still makes the Model S quicker than the McLaren P1 or the Lamborghini Huracan Performante, to name but a few.

Of course, there are a few unknowns, some of which could potentially cast some shade on the unofficial record and some that could suggest there's room for improvement. Starting with the latter, we don't know who is driving the car. Stick Randy Pobst in there, and his experience with the track might help shave a few more tenths of a second. As for the former, there is the question of tire choice. It would make little sense for Tesla to test the car with anything other than road-legal rubber, but we don't know anything for sure at this moment.