Hacked Tesla Model S Plaid breaks speed record, goes 216 mph
If you thought Tesla Model S Plaid was fast at its official top speed of 175 miles per hour, you haven't seen anything yet.
A man called Guillaume André sat behind the wheel of a white Tesla Model S Plaid at the Trois-Rivières airport in Québec, Canada, stepped on the accelerator pedal, and didn't let go until the Tesla reached a top speed of 216 miles per hour, the fastest publicly reported speed for this model (via Electrek).
But how did he overcome Tesla's software limitations to do that? Well, André is the CEO of Ingenext, a Quebec-based company that sells car parts, kits, and modules which help unlock software-locked features in Tesla vehicles. One of these limitations, you guessed it, is the top speed, and without it, the Tesla Model S Plaid can really fly.
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Interestingly, the Tesla didn't require many hardware modifications to achieve this feat, except for bigger brakes and higher performance tires. Other than that, it looks like a pretty basic Model S, you know, the type you take your kids to kindergarten with.
A cool detail: As the Tesla speeds up to about 185 miles per hour, the color of the speedometer turns from white to red, probably signifying danger. And yes, this is a very dangerous feat which you should probably never try yourself.
Check out the record-breaking moment in the video below.
Topics Cars
Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
