A world speed record was broken this morning by a Tesla at Trois-Rivières airport when the slightly modified Model S reached the blistering speed of 350 km/h.
• Read also: IN PICTURES | A Tesla inexplicably catches fire at the impound lot
• Read also: Electric cars: the price of lithium explodes, supply does not follow demand
The Trois-Rivières airport has suspended its flights and lent its runway in order to contribute to the advancement of automotive science. The car is a production car, the Model S, to which some horsepower has been added.
This type of vehicle is normally stuck at 260 km / h, but can in some cases exceed 300 km / h, far from the 350 km / h reached Thursday morning, the speed of a Formula One.
The Boeings and Airbuses that usually take off on this runway travel much slower, and reach 260 km/h.
The driver behind the wheel, who holds an amateur racing driver’s license, explained that all he heard was the wind blowing over the vehicle.
“This vehicle has just pushed the limits. This was the weak point of electric vehicles. They put out a lot of power at low revs, and at high revs it was really an incredible demonstration phase to get to those speeds. The engines in this vehicle are really a ”game changer””, explains Guillaume André.
If the brakes were slightly modified to respond to Thursday morning’s test, the pilot admits, at the end, “it started to feel hot”.