Photo: Instagram screen capture
Elon Musk acted a bit like a bully this week, which shouldn't shock anyone considering he was probably bullied on growing up. Last weekend, SpaceX hosted a final competition between the last teams remaining in the Hyperloop race, with the target being to achieve the greatest speed on the 0.8-mile long test track.
The winner was a German student team from the Technical University of Munich who managed to clock 201 mph 323 km/h. That was a new record for a pod traveling inside the nearly vacuumed tube which Elon Musk believes can conjure speeds of up to 800 mph (almost 1,300 km/h), which is more than the speed of sound.
However, only a few days later, Musk decided to give the Tesla's own Hyperloop pod a go. The vehicle is used to give student pods a push, as some of them require a little nod before they can catch up speed. That means it's far from being set up to achieve great velocities, and yet it ran the relatively short course with a top speed of 220 mph (355 km/h).
Musk described the process as "racing with a tugboat," suggesting they would have tried more runs if it weren't for the pod overheating. But, the Tesla, SpaceX, and Boring Company CEO continued in his Instagram post, he thinks reaching 500 km/h (310 mph) over the next month is not impossible after "a few tweaks or maybe tiny pieces."
Of course, comparing the achievements of a multi-billion company such as Tesla to those of a student team is like comparing apples to orange alien spaceships, so credit where credit is due. The WARR team from Germany deserves all the praise, but does this trial of the proprietary pod and the subsequent claim of even better performances suggest Musk is thinking about taking over and doing things his own way?
Given how driven he is, we wouldn't be surprised if he were unhappy with the pace at which things are unfolding, so he felt the need to step in. After all, back in 2013 when Musk first talked about the Hyperloop, he did mention it was far from being his priority. With the Model 3 all but out of the way, SpaceX running smoothly for a change and the Boring Company... boring, the Hyperloop project might have moved up on the list.
However, only a few days later, Musk decided to give the Tesla's own Hyperloop pod a go. The vehicle is used to give student pods a push, as some of them require a little nod before they can catch up speed. That means it's far from being set up to achieve great velocities, and yet it ran the relatively short course with a top speed of 220 mph (355 km/h).
Musk described the process as "racing with a tugboat," suggesting they would have tried more runs if it weren't for the pod overheating. But, the Tesla, SpaceX, and Boring Company CEO continued in his Instagram post, he thinks reaching 500 km/h (310 mph) over the next month is not impossible after "a few tweaks or maybe tiny pieces."
Of course, comparing the achievements of a multi-billion company such as Tesla to those of a student team is like comparing apples to orange alien spaceships, so credit where credit is due. The WARR team from Germany deserves all the praise, but does this trial of the proprietary pod and the subsequent claim of even better performances suggest Musk is thinking about taking over and doing things his own way?
Given how driven he is, we wouldn't be surprised if he were unhappy with the pace at which things are unfolding, so he felt the need to step in. After all, back in 2013 when Musk first talked about the Hyperloop, he did mention it was far from being his priority. With the Model 3 all but out of the way, SpaceX running smoothly for a change and the Boring Company... boring, the Hyperloop project might have moved up on the list.
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