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RANDY POBST RECOUNTS HIS EPIC PIKES PEAK CRASH AND HOW THE UNPLUGGED PERFORMANCE TEAM GAVE HIM A SECOND CRACK AT GLORY

- RANDY POBST

Up to this point, everything had gone smoother than a warm chocolate fondue. It’s my sixth shot answering the siren’s call from the fourteener boulders of America’s Mountain— the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The thrills and challenge of open-road racing are irresistible to me. But things have just taken a bad turn.

Just three months before, I was on a Third Row Tesla podcast with Ben Schaffer of Unplugged Performance, the noted Tesla tuner. I needed a ride, so I threw it out there: Say, why don’t we ask if we can borrow the Model S Plaid for Pikes Peak? “Not likely,” Schaffer said. “But maybe we could run our UP Model 3 Performance.”

Really? After my experience hot-lapping their suspension and carbon widebody mods at one of their Tesla Corsa track days, this made perfect sense. Impressive handling, upgraded brakes and cooling, huge torque, and adjustable all-wheel drive.

Better still, it would be a single 10-minute run at altitude, where electrons don’t slow down. Internal combustion cars wheeze up there, and turbos are tough to tune for it. Failures are common. High voltage is perfect for Pikes Peak and its 14,115-foot summit, and an electric prototype racer has the overall record, by a lot.

Before you know it, the Unplugged team has stripped and caged a brand-new Model 3 and installed every speed part they sell. The drivetrain remains stock, the complex high-voltage system being very difficult to modify, except for some tricks to keep it cool in the thin air. Power creates heat—whether it’s electric, gas, or diesel.