FAST. NEW. DRIVEN.
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orget traditional super sedans
like the BMW M5 or Audi
RS7, Elon Musk is far more
ambitious than that. With
Tesla’s new Model S P85D, he set his
sights much higher: “Our goal was to
match one of the fastest cars ever, the
McLaren F1.” Can a 467kW carbonfibre
supercar really be humbled by a silent,
overweight (2239kg), battery-powered
five-door sedan?
As it turns out, yes. During the P85D’s
recent Los Angeles unveil, Musk
revealed “you’ll be able to choose three
settings: Normal, Sport, and Insane.”
Having now tested it, we can confirm
that when it comes to insane, the P85D
makes Charlie Manson seem like Charlie
Chaplin. Lined up on the dragstrip, the
P85D fires off the line like one of Musk’s
Falcon 9 rockets launching horizontally;
with 931Nm available from idle and no
gears to interrupt progress, the P85D
compresses time and space like nothing
this side of the Starship Enterprise. Tesla
claims 0-100km/h in 3.4sec with a high-
11sec quarter mile – if anything, it feels
even faster.
Responsible for this science fiction
speed is the installation of a second
electric motor in the front of the P85D –
the ‘D’ standing for ‘dual motor’. Rated
at 165kW, it combines with the 350kW
rear motor for head-spinning outputs of
515kW/931Nm. The extra motor, tucked
into what was a recessed cavity near the
firewall in the now-discontinued rear-
drive P85+, adds 88kg and a very slightTesla Model S P85D
An electric sedan faster than a McLaren F1? No bull
Autopilot consists of
a forward-looking
camera, radar and
360-degree sonar to
detect other objects
and react accordinglyimprovement in range, Tesla claiming a
maximum distance of 480km between
charges when driven at a steady 105km/h.
It also shifts weight distribution
slightly from 47/53 to 51/49 front-
to-rear, but electrification means
conventional physics don’t really
apply when discussing the big Tesla’s
handling. There are thicker anti-roll bars
and firmer damping rates, but it’s the
drivetrain that has the biggest influence
on the P85D’s dynamics. Feathering
the accelerator now rotates the car’s
trajectory via regenerative brake drag that
instantly reallocates between both axles.
Essentially, the two motors’ email-instant
reflexes mean the stability control system
is the drivetrain itself.
The P85D retails at $133,500 locally,24 march 2015 motormag.com.auWorldmags.netWorldmags.net