A hacked Tesla Model S Plaid achieves a record-breaking speed of 216 mph

The Tesla Model S Plaid has an official top speed of 175 miles per hour (281km/h). But what if it could go faster?

That's a question a man called Guillaume André asked as he proceeded to get behind the wheel of a white Tesla Model S Plaid at the Trois-Rivières airport in Québec, Canada.

Stepping on the accelerator pedal to reach a record-breaking speed

He then stepped on the accelerator pedal until the Tesla reached a top speed of 216 miles per hour (348 km/h), breaking the record for the fastest publicly reported speed for this model. How did he do it?

André is not just any regular guy. He is the CEO of Ingenext, a Quebec-based company that sells car parts, kits, and modules that help unlock software-locked features in Tesla vehicles.

He, therefore, was particularly adept at hacking the vehicle to remove its speed limitations. And it seems that without these in place, the car can really speed up.

The story took place last Thursday and was covered by Electrek. It saw André and his team shut down the Trois-Rivières airport to conduct their experiment. The location had a ~3 km (1.8-mile) long runway that was perfect for the test.

Was the car modified besides hacking its speed limitations? Yes, but only slightly. Ingenext's Model S Plaid consisted of a stock production vehicle equipped with bigger brakes from Mountainpass Performance and higher performance tires (Michelin Pilot Super Sport).

These tweaks were made mostly for safety reasons, as reaching such high speeds could cause a regular car to burn up its tires and also be unable to perform a halt.

Model S Plaid hitting 216 MPH ? pic.twitter.com/50FUGcmaFM

— Jeremy Judkins (@jeremyjudkins_) June 30, 2022

How far did the CEO have to go to reach his record-breaking speed? André had to reach about 1.2 miles (2 km) to achieve a top speed of 216 miles per hour (348 km/h). Breaking, on the other hand, was another story as the executive took the full length of the runway to come to a complete stop even with the bigger breaks installed.

A jet getting off the runway

In the video produced by Electrek, we can hear the sound of the car accelerating, and it can be compared to a jet getting off the runway. In addition, on the dashboard of the hacked vehicle, the color of the speedometer turns from white to red as the speed of the vehicle continues to increase.

This clearly indicates a sign of danger.

This points to the question: is it really safe to unleash such speeds on a family sedan? Ingenext plans to soon offer its module to the public with the capacity unlocked and other features, but it may be safer to stick to the regular version, particularly if you do not have bigger breaks and better performance wheels to install.

Still, the experiment is a fun way to determine the vehicle's true capabilities.