Ever since early last week, when Porsche set the fastest four-door electric car around the Nurburgring record in their recently-unveiled Taycan, Elon Musk has been set on beating it.
To do this, Musk immediately shipped a few Model S 'Plaid' prototypes over the 'Ring, and set about smashing the Taycan's record.
According to a local Nurburgring photographer, the three-motor Model S prototype has already bettered the Porsche sedan's time by almost 20 seconds, and is yet to do a lap with a clear track.
On top of this, Tesla has claimed that a mind-blowing 7:05 is possible, and will be attempted when the car returns to the track next month.
But it seems that it hasn't been completely smooth sailing for the American brand as a Model S prototype suffered some serious issues over the weekend, and had to be hauled from the track.
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Apparently a fire vehicle turned up minutes after the car pulled over, and the crew was seen talking to the driver. Ironically, the Tesla was passed by a Porsche Taycan while waiting for assistance.
While it is not unusual for prototypes to catch fire during testing sessions, overheating issues have historically been the bane of Tesla's performance capabilities, and cooling the drive train has been difficult.
Considering that these prototypes are running three motors, we can imagine that extra cooling measures have been put in place, but are obviously are not free of faults just yet.