A privately built Tesla Model 3 Performance arrived at the Nürburgring for a public trackday session in about as modified a state as a road-registered car can manage. The owner, based in the Netherlands, fitted a carbon fiber widebody kit sourced from China, 315-section tires on all four corners, a full roll cage, KW two-way competition suspension, StopTech brakes with different discs, and stripped the entire interior. The standard steering wheel was replaced. The widebody conversion was necessary specifically to fit 315-width tires at the front axle, which a stock Model 3 cannot accommodate. The whole build was done without a reference to follow, the owner working through it by trial and error. Misha Charoudin, who laps the Nürburgring regularly on camera, got a session in the car during a public run.
The build runs a square tire setup, the same width front and rear, which is sensible for an all-wheel-drive platform. The car previously used KW V3 dampers and was switched to the current two-way competition units. The cage is not just a safety measure: on a car this stripped, it also contributes to chassis stiffness in areas where interior panels and bracing were removed. The steering wheel is a non-standard unit, which created some discussion at the gate regarding Nürburgring regulations. The owner fitted a splined adapter to ensure it cannot detach, satisfying the track rules. Charoudin noted it as the most extensively modified Tesla he had driven at the Nürburgring, and it drove noticeably differently from any stock variant of the car.
Charoudin found the car promising but not fully dialed in. Too much rear toe-out made it nervous under hard driving. The suspension felt soft for the circuit. Both are fixable, and the owner confirmed the alignment had not been touched recently. Braking was strong and consistent throughout the lap. The other constraint is Tesla-specific: the Model 3 tracks time under sustained load rather than monitoring actual component temperatures. Even with upgraded cooling hardware, the software can reduce power after several minutes of full-throttle use regardless of whether anything is actually hot. Charoudin backed off through the uphill section to let the system reset before resuming pace in the faster segments. The owner is considering entering the European Time Attack EV class later in the year.
Bottom line: The alignment needs work and the suspension is still being sorted, but the core idea is sound. A properly stripped and widened Model 3 Performance with real brakes and competition dampers drives differently enough from stock to be worth the effort. Whether it becomes genuinely competitive in time attack depends on how much more development goes in.