From the March/April 2026 issue of Car and Driver.
Lap Time: 2:43.2
Class: LL3 | Base: $135,630 | As Tested: $144,630
Power and Weight: 1020 hp • 4804 lb • 4.7 lb/hp
Tires: Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3R
F: 285/35ZR-20 (104Y) T0
R: 305/30ZR-20 (103Y) T0
This was our first time driving a Model S Plaid with the $24,000 Track package, which brings carbon-ceramic rotors with larger calipers and wider forged-aluminum wheels wearing tenacious Goodyear tires similar to the last Camaro ZL1 1LE’s. The package also unlocks a 200-mph top speed.
Unlike the stock brakes, these felt powerful, never wilting despite the Tesla’s 4804-pound weight. The Model S also posted a solid 1.13 g’s of grip in Turn 1, second only to the Corvette ZR1 this year. There were a few spots where the Model S’s penchant to oversteer made us drive a bit more conservatively, after we nearly pirouetted off track in the fast left sweeper leading into NASCAR Bend. But the Model S has sufficient lateral grip, as well as a truly heroic level of thrust, to hang with the 1000-hp club EVs, the Lucid Air Sapphire and Porsche Taycan Turbo GT.
In the final sector, a left-right downhill combo leading onto the Front Straight, the Tesla matched the Lucid and slightly outpaced the Porsche. Its biggest source of lost time against them is not where we expected; the Tesla gave back over a second braking into Turn 1. How is there even that much time to lose? Well, when slowing from these lofty speeds—167.0 mph in the Model S—the braking zone is roughly 750 feet, and it takes five seconds or so to reach roughly 50 mph for Turn 1. Perhaps the tires’ longitudinal grip isn’t as strong, but the track surface was down on stick in general this year. Without that differential, the Model S would be nipping at the Taycan’s heels. But, as it is, the Model S is third of the trio.
However, the Tesla costs roughly $100K less than the others, putting it in our LL3 category. In that group, the Model S winds up second only to the C8 Corvette Z06.
Back to Lightning Lap 2026
Dave VanderWerp has spent more than 20 years in the automotive industry, in varied roles from engineering to product consulting, and now leading Car and Driver‘s vehicle-testing efforts. Dave got his very lucky start at C/D by happening to submit an unsolicited resume at just the right time to land a part-time road warrior job when he was a student at the University of Michigan, where he immediately became enthralled with the world of automotive journalism.