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Tesla Roadster

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Re: Tesla Roadster

#511

Has the 8 second quarter mile been confirmed to be done in stock trim (i.e., no special tires or other modifications)? The reason I ask is because that is EXTREMELY impressive. I tune EFI systems on race cars as a hobby, and any car in the 8 second range usually needs to run slicks or drag radials to have enough traction. Even all wheel drive cars (GTRs, DSMs, EVOs, etc.) usually run 4 slicks once they get to that sp…

I'll be amazed, amazzzzed, if that car, stock, can create enough down force to keep itself on the road with stock tires, I don't care how good your TC is. Look at the size of the wing on the new Zr1 https://youtu.be/O_adY_b-aLQ?t=3m14s

Re: Tesla Roadster

#513
post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No doubt, but sped up at the moment of acceleration.

What makes you say this?

A human is holding the camera and at the beginning of the video has a specific cadence and wobble. The cadence and wobble speeds up.

Furthermore, the human's reaction time to keep the car somewhat centered in the frame is unlikely.

Re: Tesla Roadster

#514
post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you say this?

The people around the car jerk a bit. Could be camera motion, scared spectators, altered video; I’m not an expert.

I'm curious as to why you choose to believe that their was a conspiracy to release a sped up video rather than the fact that the car really is just that quick. Cognitive dissonance? Shorting Tesla stock?

It's not like you're mentally deficient or anything so there has to be a logical reason in your mind as to why you ended up thinking this. I would be very keen to know what that is.

Re: Tesla Roadster

#515
post #387
post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To get featured the list of fastest cars in magazines etc., to go to car shows, to get people into a show room, to get featured on TopGear/The Grand Tour, for kids to talk about at school and so on. All of which boost Tesla's brand (outside the tech echo-chamber, where it is already strong).

> to get featured on TopGear/The Grand Tour I doubt they'd allow that judging by what happened the last time they were featured.

Yes, on the UK one. However, there are many versions around the world. Also, the presenters involved have all left, and are now on the Grand Tour. My point was about halo cars in general, not Telsa's experience in general.

The team at the Grand Tour are going to have to get used electric cars, since I expect all the fastest cars will be electric from this point. If they can't get a loaner car, they'll borrow or buy one, they've done that before.

Re: Tesla Roadster

#516
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My brother pointed out that other Tesla cars (even the semi they announced) have a "front trunk". This one's hood is seamless. Our theory is that under the entire front hood is batteries.

I wonder what happens when one of these cars crashes head-on into something. The front of a car is supposed to act as a crumple zone. Batteries aren't very good at crumpling.

Most super cars have very little safety in mind. At $200k, a small percentage of people will be driving one. It's all about specs at this point, throw everything else out other than meeting the road legal requirements.

Re: Tesla Roadster

#517
post #499

Has the 8 second quarter mile been confirmed to be done in stock trim (i.e., no special tires or other modifications)? The reason I ask is because that is EXTREMELY impressive. I tune EFI systems on race cars as a hobby, and any car in the 8 second range usually needs to run slicks or drag radials to have enough traction. Even all wheel drive cars (GTRs, DSMs, EVOs, etc.) usually run 4 slicks once they get to that sp…

> that still puts it on par with 1000 HP dedicated drag cars I think you'll find it's past those. Even 1200hp GTRs don't run eights.

The OP is right that 8 sec 1/4 is extremely impressive, but he is wrong that there are few production cars that can run 8s. No production car runs anything close.

The fastest 1/4 mile production cars are supercars such as the Veyron and 918, which are at or just under a 10seconds.

Remember, an increase from 20->18 seconds is roughly a 10% increase in acceleration; 10->8 is roughly 20% increase over an already ludicrously fast million-dollar supercar.

It's frankly ridiculously fast.

Re: Tesla Roadster

#518
post #377
post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was just about to write my own comment about this: the battery capacity is the real eye-opener in this announcement, I think. The new roadster looks like a car which is rather smaller than the Model 3, certainly not larger. And as a sporty car it wouldn't be heavier either. So how in all worlds do they fit a 200kWh battery in there? This can only mean, it has more than twice the capacity per weight and volume than…

You're discounting the fact that this will be released in 2020. We've had a 4x increase in density between 2010-2016. Also, Model 3 benefits from the new smaller gigafactory-made battery packages (at least a 35% increase in density over older Model S battery packs). When you take all of this into account, it's very likely that they could fit an older Model S-size battery pack (which is more from 2015-2016 era) in a R…

Tesla claims that the Model 3 can only fit ~80 Kwh with the current "improved" technology. This is more than double that in an even smaller vehicle!

Re: Tesla Roadster

#519
post #499

Has the 8 second quarter mile been confirmed to be done in stock trim (i.e., no special tires or other modifications)? The reason I ask is because that is EXTREMELY impressive. I tune EFI systems on race cars as a hobby, and any car in the 8 second range usually needs to run slicks or drag radials to have enough traction. Even all wheel drive cars (GTRs, DSMs, EVOs, etc.) usually run 4 slicks once they get to that sp…

> that still puts it on par with 1000 HP dedicated drag cars I think you'll find it's past those. Even 1200hp GTRs don't run eights.

True. GTRs are not the best for drag racing. I think the Alpha 12 (~1200 HP) GTRs are actually dipping into the 8's, but I was thinking more along the lines of a Mustang, which is one of the most common cars used for drag racing and is usually much lighter.

Many cars in the 1200 HP range are much faster, such as the "Red Demon" DSM which is somewhere in the 7 second range.

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