Tesla has announce Track Mode v2. Track Mode v1 offered Model 3 Performance owners the ability to tone down traction control to the rear to have some fun on the track. V2 takes that to the next level, offering drivers a extensive control of the power delivery.
The software control over what the Model 3 can do is unlike anything we’ve seen from a factory before. While some cars have a button to disable traction control, Tesla offers a full array of 0-100 sliders to dial in your car to each circuit.
With Track Mode V2, Tesla enables the ability to configure vehicle parameters, something usually heavily controlled by the manufacturer.
These parameters include full control over the power delivery from the front and rear electric motors. This means you can effectively transition your car from a front wheel drive, to a rear wheel drive and everything in between.
Track Mode V2 also offers controls over handling balance, stability assist and regeneration levels. When we’re talking about pushing an EV to the limits while racing, cooling the battery pack is critical in delivering lasting performance lap after lap. To address this, Tesla has new a new compressor overclock and post-drive cooling to optimise performance while not hurting the battery long term.
Again we see some of the fun of Tesla coming out with the ability to Automatically record track footage, ensuring you have that footage of the competition disappearing into the distance.
I love the ability to drop a pin anywhere on track and treat that as a virtual start/finish line. Having an in-built lap timer and geforce meter, eliminates the need for expensive third-party solutions.
Track Mode V2 is not just software, but also includes a new set of forged aluminum rims, wrapped in new rubber, along with new upgraded brakes.
The new Track Pack doesn’t come cheap, coming in at US$5,500. While the pack isn’t available in Australia, I definitely hope Tesla bring it down under, we have lots of auto enthusiasts here.
After thinking about how out of the blue this announcement was, I couldn’t help but think about the other items on Tesla’s to-do list. The end of 2020 was supposed to deliver a feature complete Full Self Driving package to those that had paid for the upgrade (currently A$8,500).
December came and went and now in March 2020, I thought it was a good time to ask Elon what’s up with FSD Feature Complete?
Elon’s response to my tweet obviously dodges the real question, which I take to mean as it still being in development and they’re not ready to talk about it until it is. Also Track mode V2 is pretty cool.
The concern about it being too complicated I think relates to the massive possible number of permutations when drivers are chasing the optimal setup for a track. Basically you could play with the sliders and easily have negative effects on your lap times.
Making Track Mode even better
As a possible solution to this, I recommend that Tesla add the ability for drivers to share their lap times for each track, with the Tesla community in a leaderboard. Each of the configurations used to achieve these lap times could be downloadable to your car. This would give you the best chance at achieving those times.
As a technique to improve lap times for beginner drivers, I’d also recommended that Tesla add the ability for the main screen to be a camera feed from the forward-facing camera, overlaid with the optimal racing line to help beginner drivers improve their racing.
A couple of high profile YouTubers were invited to try out Track Mode v2 and you can watch their reviews below.
