An ultra-tuned Tesla Model 3 by Unplugged Performance crashed at the Pikes Peak during its 2nd day of attempting to break the 10 min lap time barrier.
Just when the car took the 2nd turn on this difficult race track, it swerved to the left and hit the safety wall.
Fortunately, the car did not tilt towards the right to take the path downhill. According to Unplugged Performance’s official statement, this tragic crash was caused by a massive bump in the road that wasn’t here last year.
This upper stage of the mountainous track is called the Devil’s Playground and it took a toll on the tuned Tesla Model 3 Performance which was driven by professional race driver Randy Pobst.
Leading into this moment we were in first place in our exhibition class with a large advantage (26 second lead in qualifying). We woke up at 3 am and headed to the mountain to practice the dangerous upper stage, Devil’s Playground. On Randy’s first run in the early AM, an unfortunate miscalculation occurred. A massive bump in the road this year was all it took to change fate and render our winning prospects into heartbreak.
The incident, unfortunately, ended our target of beating a 10-minute lap. Thankfully we have a video of our qualifying session. In that video, it is easy to see the potential of the car breaking the 10-minute mark (watch below at the end of post).
A short clip of the car just taking off the start line on this attempt was posted online by Tesla enthusiast, retail investor, and part of this event’s team Sofian Fraval.
We can see the spoiler of the Unplugged Performance Tesla Model 3 being detached and flying in the air when it hit the rocks. This shows the severity of the impact the Tesla Model 3 and the driver Randy Pobst experienced.
Randy is 100% A-OK and hasn’t experienced any injuries, the safety measures of the safest car of the world were further reinforced by Unplugged Performance by installing a cage inside the cabin (just like the stunt cars Hollywood).
Unplugged Performance released the following video of the crash recorded by a camera placed inside the Model 3’s cabin.
Randy also shared the video of this incident captured by his helmet camera, he described the scene as:
After running so fast and well in Day One qualifying, Randy snaps sideways and slams the wall at Bottomless Pit corner, so named for the 1800 foot drop on the other side of said wall. Horribly disappointing after fantastic first day Tuesday in the Unplugged Performance Tesla Model 3. First, runoff because just too fast too soon? The bumps are massive in the top section of the Hill Climb.
Randy Pobst
The Aftermath
This tailor-tuned Tesla Model 3 for the Pikes Peak performance is damaged after this crash but is not totaled. The Unplugged Performance team is working hard to repair and bring it back to the track.
Meanwhile, Unplugged Performance purchased another Tesla Model 3 Performance to use as a donor car. Tesla also stepped up and drove the car down from Denver the same day.
All these efforts helped in starting the quick repair process of the Unplugged Model 3 that will bring it back the car to Pikes Peak as soon as possible in order to re-attempt at breaking the lap records.
The team working on the rebuild of the Unplugged Tesla Model 3 estimates that the car will be back in action within the next 3 days. Randy is also working on this project in the workshop to bring the beast back to life (stay tuned for the follow-up story).
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Unplugged Tesla Model 3: Day 1 at the Pikes Peak
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