At its official top speed of 175 miles per hour, the Tesla Model S Plaid is fast, but 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).
How did he overcome Tesla’s software limitations to accomplish this? 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. The top speed is one of those limitations, and without it, the Tesla Model S Plaid can really take off.
To accomplish this feat, the Tesla did not require many hardware modifications other than bigger brakes and better tires. Other than that, it looks like a pretty basic Model S, you know, the type you take your kids to kindergarten with.
When the Tesla speeds up to 185 miles per hour, the speedometer’s color changes from white to red, probably signaling 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.