Beast Mode: A deeper look at Tesla's performance prowess with its 'Cheetah Stance'

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Iqtidar Ali

The world's fastest production car has gotten even faster — Tesla curbed another 0.1s from its Model S Performance 0-60 MPH time. Now the car can do it in just 2.3 seconds. Imagine the insane, ludicrous, ridiculous g-force with that kind of acceleration. Whoa.

Above: Tesla Model S depiction of the Cheetah Stance (Source: Jp Valery on Unsplash)

It's official: Tesla's online configurator now shows the Model S Performance 0-60 time as 2.3s. Not just the 0-60 MPH time has improved with this over-the-air (OTA) software update, but the car’s battery pack is also more heat resistant — this thermal endurance gives the Model S Performance the ability to deliver back-to-back launches with its Ludicrous+ mode.

Now when the Tesla Model S Performance is put into its Ludicrous+ mode, besides prepping the battery pack, the front suspension of the car starts to lower itself to mimic the stance of a Cheetah getting ready to pursue its prey.

Rule #1 is never buy a product based on promised software updates but wow I'll take it. Thanks @Tesla 🤓 pic.twitter.com/QXKvB0Qaen
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) April 23, 2020

Above: Tesla owners were pleasantly surprised to wake up to a quicker car after the latest software update (Twitter: Marques Brownlee)

In this case, the prey could be the $3 million Bugatti Chiron supercar which goes from 0-60 in 2.5s. Imagine... that’s equal to the price of a fleet of 30 Model S Performance cars each having a better 2.3s 0-60 time.

Tesla Model S and Model X cars started getting the Raven drivetrain and adaptive air suspension in April of last year. In addition to increasing the range of both vehicles, this prior update also (marginally) increased the performance of the cars. Now, there's even more excitement coming from Tesla's recent software update.

Above: Tesla Model S Performance lowered front air-suspension that mimics the Cheetah Stance (Source: DragTimes / YouTube)

And it's not just the 0-60 MPH time that's improved. Tesla's Model S quarter-mile drag time has also improved with the 2020.12.10 update. The previous testing of the same Raven Model S on the dragstrip showed consistent 1/4-mile times of 10.7 seconds in each attempt but in a recent video by the Tesla Racing Channel, the time shrunk to around 10.5 seconds — pretty close to Tesla’s announced 10.4 seconds. A few days later, Drag Times hit the mark in a recent drag race. Check out a round-up of videos below demonstrating Tesla's new performance prowess.

As the latest software update proliferates throughout the Tesla community, we'll definitely see more Model S Performance owners rushing to the dragstrip in order to test the car's new acceleration chops.

Video Roundup

Top: Launches with Tesla's cheetah stance (Youtube: Bjorn Nyland); Testing the Cheetah Stance Launch Mode on a Tesla Model S Performance (YouTube: DragTimes); Middle: Testing the Cheetah Mode + Ludicrous Mode on a Tesla Model S (YouTube: Tesla Racing Channel); Bottom: Drag Times sets the record (YouTube: DragTimes)

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Written by: Iqtidar Ali. An earlier version of this article was originally published on Tesla Oracle.

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