Craig Coker is a professional racing driver known for his precision and technical expertise in motorsports. With a background in both circuit and endurance racing, Coker has built a reputation for consistent, high-performance driving. His adaptability across various racing conditions and disciplines has made him a respected figure in the motorsport community. Coker is celebrated for his focus on car control, race strategy, and continuous improvement. As both a driver and coach, he helps others refine their skills, making a positive impact on those in the competitive racing world.
Built by Unplugged Performance, the Bionic Phoenix continues to rise from the ashes of its massive crash at Pikes Peak in 2020, and is on a quest to see what a Tesla Model 3 is capable of. We reset the Buttonwillow CW13 Model 3 Lap Record (1:48) with Craig Coker behind the wheel during this brief 3-hot lap shakedown at Tesla Corsa on April 2nd, 2023.
We know this is still early in this stage of development for Bionic Phoenix. The progress of Phoenix shows potential, and the road map is far from complete. Although, as you can see on the incredibly smooth lap video, we now have the aero and suspension components so dialed in that the driver can be flat out on the accelerator for most of the lap due to the insane levels of grip and road holding now present in the current iteration of the build.
Bionic Phoenix is continuing on its current mission of testing the absolute maximum performance possible with standard off-the-shelf Tesla Model 3 Performance battery, motors, and software. Also, despite the extensive carbon fiber bodywork, this car is closely comparable to a standard Model 3 Performance due to the Pikes Peak-spec roll cage, remaining from the original incarnation of this car. Were we to start with a fresh build specifically for time-attack, we could certainly shave off significant weight and improve lap times as a result... we still have more in store for this development car but its history is too special to us to start anew at this stage.
To learn about the origins of Bionic Phoenix and to understand the history of this build, check out the documentary High Voltage, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9mLF-V1vBM
Bionic Phoenix sports proprietary aero parts on the outside but the suspension, brakes, wheels, hard parts, and many of the racing and safety components are all from our standard street parts catalog and can be fitted to any Tesla Model 3. Browse here: https://unpluggedperformance.com/model-3/
Driver: https://instagram.com/fromwhereicharge
Photo Credit: https://instagram.com/4wheelvisuals