Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tesla Roadster

tesla.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

701–710 of 729 posts

Re: Tesla Roadster

#701

Post by D_Alex »

wallace_f wrote: post #517
grecy wrote: post #499

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 ludicro…

Since D=0.5at^2, going 10->8 would need a 50% increase in acceleration.

Re: Tesla Roadster

#702

Post by JungleGymSam »

shamaku wrote: post #357
davidwhodge wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took this video. I assure you it is real

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

Your comment reveals that you don't know what you're talking about. Very fast cars are rare so their rate of acceleration looks strange to someone that's not used to it.

Re: Tesla Roadster

#703

Post by gsnedders »

CommentCard wrote: post #375
bennyelv wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you're right about this. If the 60-0 time and the 0-60 time are the same for the Chiron then it's limited by traction (assuming brakes that are strong enough to break traction at 60). Most high performance cars only shift once before 60, and with modern dual clutch transmissions it only costs a fraction of a second. The only way Tesla are going to get below 2 seconds is either with non-street legal tyre…

Their demo car uses Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, which are also used on the Buggati Chiron and Koenigsegg Agera RS (which recently set two records for fastest 0-400kph-0 and fastest production car road speed). These tires are street legal. The Roadster is significantly faster than other supercars from 0-60 on the same tires, so the advantage must come from much more efficient anti-wheel slipping from the three electric m…

FWIW, all of the hypercars on the market have custom compounds, so the fact they're both called "Pilot Sport Cup 2" by Michelin doesn't really matter all too much.

Re: Tesla Roadster

#704

Post by aerophilic »

doikor wrote: post #401
aerophilic wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that may be the core point of why they are doing this. They are in a cash crunch, if they get enough deposits it can certainly help their bottom line... without dilution.

Developing a car like to a car to that state (drivable at the event) will have taken 2 or 3 years already so I doubt it originally started as a fix for cash flow.

Agreed, but I would be surprised if that didn’t play into the math. One of Elon’s greatest strengths is to think ahead strategically and position himself for maximum upside towards his goals. So yes, I am sure he didn’t think he would need this to help with Model 3, but I am sure he knew he would need more cash on hand to make another “big bet”. Unfortunately it looks like this cash will go to current projects rather than a brand new initiative. Unless of course this was to help with Tesla Semi...

Re: Tesla Roadster

#705

Post by lathiat »

alkonaut wrote: post #199
lathiat wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something that really impressed me is how smoothly the Model S launches in the Wet, see here: https://youtu.be/iyXSJAICaBc?t=210 [Real Time @ 3m30s] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNzLTW_l2q0 [Slow Motion] Elon talked during some event how the latency / response time of the torque control in the Tesla drive-train is ridiculous compared to gasoline and for that reason even RWD models should handle well in the snow. T…

I'd be pretty nervous running something RWD with massive torque and power on ice. I'm sure it's better to have a more predicateble delivery, but with ice 7 months per year I'm staying clear of high power RWD cars...

The electric advantage though is that you can infinitely (or well close enough) modulate that power delivery. And in fact I think they recently added a "slow and comfortable" acceleration option to the Model S (the opposite of Maximum Plaid :-)

The snow comments were also mostly in regards to the context of the Model 3 which is not that "high power" but it also has obviously quite a substantial amount of torque from a get-go compared to traditional gasoline torque curves.

Generally speaking though I would agree.. I love AWD, Breathe AWD.. and my Model 3 will be AWD :) .. and we don't get any snow!

Also 7 months of snow is probably very different to much less of it I imagine.

Re: Tesla Roadster

#706

Post by canttestthis »

vkou wrote: post #650
illumin8 wrote: post #643

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Amazon listened to those same finance blogs that are chastising Tesla, they wouldn't be where they are today. Wall Street hates companies that invest every cent they make into future growth; they want solid companies like GE and IBM that pay out regular profits to investors, and end up old dinosaurs because they didn't invest in innovation. The market analysts and financial blogs may hate companies like AMZN and T…

Amazon could have had a wildly profitable quarter by slightly slowing their expansion. Doing so would not kill the company. It's not clear if Tesla can do the same.

There was a time in the past where Amazon could not have done that at all.

Re: Tesla Roadster

#707

Post by bartvk »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #676
Unklejoe wrote: post #666

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A couple of points: 1. A drag car does not start at zero RPM. The engine is probably over 4000 RPM and under load before the race even begins. In fact, many cars have to dial their launch RPM down because it ends up making enough power to lose traction from a dead stop. Look up "trans brake launch" to see what I'm talking about. 2. Your comment actually further confirms my skepticism of the Tesla not being able to ma…

> A drag car does not start at zero RPM. I own a modern sportbike and I've done enough of quarter mile attempts to understand how the process works in general, even though it's not a 4-wheel vehicle. The main point here is that the internal combustion engine has a primitive torque profile. You have to keep it in the sweet spot if you want maximum performance. Hence all the stupid tricks you need to play with gear shi…

Thanks for your explanation mentioning "coordinated ballet", only at this point the realization hit home how big the differences are.

Re: Tesla Roadster

#708

Post by sundvor »

adamlett wrote: post #361
sundvor wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? It's their Formula One of development. Lots of competitors are entering the area. This helps remind everyone who the best is.

Because they already have enough on their plate and are worse off for the distraction?

The project / delivery timeline seems to stage this rather clearly as "next".

Product design / R&D is also different resource pool to manufacturing (well, at least in my mind it is). Manufacturing issues may have forced redesigns but they'll need to keep working on the next thing; competition certainly won't stand still.

Re: Tesla Roadster

#710

Post by mcdevilkiller »

Unklejoe wrote: post #519
grecy wrote: post #499

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

GTRs are not the best for drag racing? Do you mean not the best to go slow in drag racing?

Because at the top of the ladder of the 1/4 (excluding top fuel making 4000-8000hp), you only have Lambos and GTRs.

Post reply on HN