Photo: Twitter screenshot collage
Only yesterday we showed you the Tesla Roadster II prototype that was on display at the company's headquarters in Palo Alto, and now we have a short video that reveals why the car was actually there in the first place.
It is believed that Tesla only has one working prototype of its future sports car, which means we are indeed looking at the vehicle that was spotted idling inside the office building the other day. This time, though, the EV showed up in a much more dynamic fashion.
During its first presentation on November 16 last year, Elon Musk said the Roadster prototype is already capable of reaching 60 mph from a standstill in under two seconds, and that the specs of the final production version might be even better. While that's hard to imagine - not because we doubt Tesla, but simply because such acceleration in a road vehicle is difficult to comprehend - it remains a possibility.
The people attending the event last year were invited to ride shotgun into the car while a company driver would showcase its blistering pace, but most of the clips we saw were filmed from inside the car, so the sense of speed can be deceiving.
A man called Shehryar Khan managed to catch a glimpse of the new Roadster on Tesla's test track near its Fremont plant near San Francisco, California. It's the same track and even the same location where the allegedly dual-motor performance version of the Model 3 was spied last year doing the exact same thing as the Roadster now.
What would that be? Well, the thing Teslas are renowned for at the moment, which is their launching capabilities. You can see the red convertible (by the way, sorry for the vertical video, but what can you do?) coming to a halt just before the track's straight line. Its breaks seem to squeak a little, but it's most likely just very good timing of a vehicle behind the camera braking at the same time.
The guys filming (by the way, they seem to have recently come out of the teenage years, so expect some swearing) start fretting with anticipation: "is he gonna launch it?" Not a second later, the Roadster digs in, its tires spin a little (something we've seen during the launch event as well that's new to Teslas) and then it just darts forward. Again, it's not exactly easy to estimate how quickly it went, but it looked fast. 1.9-seconds to 60 mph fast? Can't tell, but two things are plainly obvious: it's quick and gorgeous. 2020 can't come soon enough.
During its first presentation on November 16 last year, Elon Musk said the Roadster prototype is already capable of reaching 60 mph from a standstill in under two seconds, and that the specs of the final production version might be even better. While that's hard to imagine - not because we doubt Tesla, but simply because such acceleration in a road vehicle is difficult to comprehend - it remains a possibility.
The people attending the event last year were invited to ride shotgun into the car while a company driver would showcase its blistering pace, but most of the clips we saw were filmed from inside the car, so the sense of speed can be deceiving.
A man called Shehryar Khan managed to catch a glimpse of the new Roadster on Tesla's test track near its Fremont plant near San Francisco, California. It's the same track and even the same location where the allegedly dual-motor performance version of the Model 3 was spied last year doing the exact same thing as the Roadster now.
What would that be? Well, the thing Teslas are renowned for at the moment, which is their launching capabilities. You can see the red convertible (by the way, sorry for the vertical video, but what can you do?) coming to a halt just before the track's straight line. Its breaks seem to squeak a little, but it's most likely just very good timing of a vehicle behind the camera braking at the same time.
The guys filming (by the way, they seem to have recently come out of the teenage years, so expect some swearing) start fretting with anticipation: "is he gonna launch it?" Not a second later, the Roadster digs in, its tires spin a little (something we've seen during the launch event as well that's new to Teslas) and then it just darts forward. Again, it's not exactly easy to estimate how quickly it went, but it looked fast. 1.9-seconds to 60 mph fast? Can't tell, but two things are plainly obvious: it's quick and gorgeous. 2020 can't come soon enough.
ROADSTER I LOVE ELON MUSK pic.twitter.com/YAzS9WBjw1
— Shehryar Khan (@khannzilla) February 14, 2018
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