The gents over at the B is for Build have shed weight, body panels, and a whole bunch of safety equipment from their salvaged Tesla Model 3 Performance. All of it is in an effort to achieve maximum acceleration and there’s no question that they’re already a success story from that perspective. Their de-bodied Model 3 just did 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) a full second faster than the normal version.
By normal version, we, of course, mean a Model 3 Performance including a body, a full interior, and all of its standard safety equipment. This car doesn’t have any of that stuff and as such it’s probably one of the lightest Model 3s in existence. The fact that the team there even has it running is somewhat surprising given the number of sensors that must be disconnected at this point.
Regardless of how exactly the team accomplished this feat, it’s shocking simply due to the reduction in time. When they first tested this exact car it did 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds. Now, with the parts all gone it can do the same feat in 2.46 seconds. That almost perfectly splits the 3.1 seconds that Tesla claims in perfect conditions for the car.
Read: One Man Is Building A Model 3-Based Cyber Roadster Inspired By Future Tesla Products
Hacking a full second off of such a run doesn’t sound too impressive but consider this; that’s almost a third of its total time. As B is for Build founder Chris Steinbacher says in the video, “light weight cars are the way to go.” Indeed, cutting weight can be a cheap way to improve just about every performance metric including braking and handling.
Is this truly the world’s fastest Tesla Model 3? It’s tough to say. Don’t get us wrong. This is certainly a fun build as are most of the ones undertaken by this channel but calling it a Model 3 seems quite dubious.
At the same time, it’s not uncommon for cars re-bodied as other cars to be called by whatever their foundation actually is. Perhaps this is one of the world’s fastest Model 3s after all. We doubt many will be willing to emulate the fashion in which this one became so quick though.