EVs are now common on our roads but remain rare in motorsport. Steve Cropley meets Tevo, the Tesla modifiers working to change that

Elon Musk was undoubtedly right when he declared E at the launch of his Model 3 compact saloon back in July 2017 that Tesla would never build a slow car. Even then, most people were already convinced. Those who had never clapped eyes on a Tesla had heard (or watched YouTube videos) of the Insane modes of the Model S and the Model X and were preparing themselves for the Model 3’s Ludicrous mode.

As far as keen drivers were concerned, the Model 3 was a BMW 3 Series rival in its dimensions, ifnot in its endurance, which was good news. Although hardly a lightweight, at 1860kg, the Model 3 was more than 600kg slimmer than the Model S, 340mm shorter, 150mm narrower and 90mm smaller in the wheelbase. It sat low, with an impressively rigid monocoque and had a welldesigned all-independent suspension underneath. It stopped and steered far better than its predecessors and was a lot more agile.

Baguley, Chambers, Burton and Cropley

On this side of the pond, Berkshire businessman, saloon racer and lifelong motorsport lover John Chambers ordered one of the first right-hand-drive Performance models and settled in to wait the promised several years for delivery.

“I’ve never waited so long for a car,” he says, “but I had already tried a Tesla in the US and knew it had the kind of performance that I wanted.”

The car Chambers ordered in March2016 finally turned up in September 2019.

“I drove it and I was hooked,” he says. “I could immediately see how far ahead Tesla was. But it was also clear, pretty soon, that it needed some improvements if I wanted to drive it hard. Not to the powertrain, but to stuff like the running gear, suspension and brakes. I started looking around and soon saw that a market had already developed for this stuff among American owners, because they had had their Model 3s several years longer than us.”

Chambers decided to import some of the US bits for his own use, but as Tesla’s European popularity started growing fast, it dawned on him that this might turn into a business. He coined the name Tevo Solutions for the embryonic operation and set about establishing relationships with US specialist suppliers.