Most recent TTOD driver was driving a tesla model 3 performance at a PCA SDR event
He was nearly 2 seconds faster on a ~ 53 second course.
Yes, all the normal "hot shot" participants were there in their P cars.

 

There is a lot more to unpack than one result. EVs have one thing they do much better than almost any ICE car, which could give them a huge advantage on a course to course basis. Your tesla driver might be better than average, or the opposite true of the other hot shoes. We had a hard time covering the Tesla at the cam invitational before nationals, but we were able to generate some separation from him at actual nationals. It looks like the fastest Tesla at solo nationals was still a second or so behind the fastest super street car. It's not the end of the world. Teslas are great appliances, and do work in a straight line better than my GT3... That doesn't make me want one, or hurt my feelings too much if they are faster than me.

 

I've not usually seen the top results at PCA events translate over to SCCA events. There's not much overlap in those fields. If a good SCCA-based driver comes to PCA events he/she usually dominates.

 

I assume the OP is referring to these event results: http://results.pcasdr.org/event_stan...ate=2023-09-10

In the top 10 times list of P-car drivers I don't recognize any names, for whatever that is worth. If any of them had driven a P-car at Nationals and done better than mid-pack I think I would know it. In my experience, admitted limited, the biggest problem with Porsche autocross at many locations (not all, by any means) is the outdated course design philosophy which simply will not train drivers to learn the necessary skills or give them the proper experience.

In addition, the majority of PCA autocrossers are just like the majority of SCCA autocrossers: they just do their local (regional) events. For most PCA regions that have an autocross program that might mean 5 or 6 a year. (Again, there are exceptions.) In my SCCA region we do 12 a year, plus a driving school, plus an advanced autocross school administered by multi-time Nat champs. But, if you want to be what I'd call a "fast" autocrosser you need much more. If you aren't traveling and doing 25 or more events a year for 10 years, pitting yourself against the best and learning from it, then that probably can't happen. Throw a "fast" driver, by that definition, into a local event, almost no matter what car or class, and things get lopsided.

If the course is any type of power course the EVs will dominate in SCCA competition as well. I've seen enough of that in SCCA autocross to know that the PAX values for EVs can be wildly inaccurate, depending upon course design. Give a decent Model 3 Performance driver a couple of deep digs and it's all over. However, the SCCA seems intent on mixing EV with ICE in an almost totally random fashion, not understanding (or caring) about the course-dependency issue. That, in my opinion, is the only thing "sad" about the EV situation.

All this makes it difficult to draw any conclusions from one event.

 

All above is true, not really asking for conclusions, just reporting what occurred.
This may have been the first AX event in > 18 months for PCA SDR since we lost our primary venue.
I have no idea of the tesla driver's experience.

be well

 

If I'm reading the results right, the ~fifth fastest time was a GR86. Those results are much more a reflection on the quality of the porsche drivers than anything about the tesla.

 

My thoughts exactly.

When I took my street tire RX8 to a PCA event here probably 10 years ago, I was TTOD by over a second with 200hp.

 

I'm a former Tesla driver who had some strong finishes in SCCA (I believe in the 2022 season, I had the highest Pax finish at any of the Champ tours)... I had the car equipped pretty well, with coilovers and the appropriate alignment bits, massive wheels, etc ....If the course was all 180's with big acceleration zones, the car would do really well - but when you throw in a lot of hard transitions (which is basically a good autox course) and sweepers, the car would struggle....I have a 23' Boxster T now that I am running in A-Street and the car is just phenomenal. It took me a minute to get the tire pressures figured out and to get my alignment done but since I have adjusted to the car, I am putting up very similar (or better) times compared to the Tesla and the people I compare my performance to in the CAM-S class which is popular around here. My overall index results have also improved.

The other factor is that I can't think of any words to express how much more fun the Boxster T is to drive than the Tesla...One feels like a race car, the other, as Auto Werks said, a fast appliance.

 

I think that had Ron Lenox (former ES Nat'l Champ) taken his Tesla Performance 3 to Nat's, I feel pretty strongly he would have trophied in SS in dry conditions and may have podiumed if it was wet. There are legit course dependencies but there is a reason why the AS crowd is making serious noises over the proposal to move it to AS.

 

BS is making even more noise since that's where it's proposed to go

 

You gotta keep up, the latest proposal is for AS. Or looking at the fastracks again, both classes are being considered.

 

Ah yeah that's right. June fastrack also put the kobash on 997.1 to BS, seemingly. We'll see what they do now that Nats is over.

 

I honestly don't see the M3P doing a lot of damage in AS unless it is a very specific course (as mentioned) - Or bad weather. The newer ones have a standard 9" wheel which is a little concerning but the front end really does not have a good camber setup from the factory and cooks/kills the front tires.

In BS, I could see people getting upset again but I still would think the Supra and M2 could put up a good fight ..And my 718T if they ever put it in there (I've stopped trying )

 

Everyone always ignores that when the top talent in C6 Z06 is present, AS is just as fast as SS. I was actually surprised at how slow BS was on the actual nationals courses. David Marcus had done a much better job wrecking AS and SS at previous national events.

 

Not sure what point you're trying to make. If a national champion caliber driver could probably trophy, it means the car is not competitive.