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Tesla SpaceX Concept Is What Happens When Elon Musk Is Taken Literally

Elon Musk is known for a lot of things, most of them quite admirable. First of all, he's a self-made man - he didn't inherit his father's real estate business and wealth, having to start pretty much from scratch.
Tesla SpaceX Concept rendering 29 photos
Photo: Frederik Steve Kristensen on Behance
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Despite his often-awkward moments on stage, he's also strangely charismatic. People like him mostly because of what he stands for and for positioning himself against the established carmakers and the oil industry, and not necessarily his artistical performances. Though once you like a guy, you're much more likely to see any blunder as cute rather than embarrassing.

However, not everything is rosy with Musk's reputation. He's also known for making wild promises that he doesn't always keep as well as setting way too ambitious deadlines that he fails to meet. These two combined have made people a little more reluctant toward any crazy things Musk might say and always have a grain of salt available whenever Tesla's CEO is about to make an important announcement.

Among those mad ideas of his was the mention of a SpaceX package for the upcoming Roadster that would boost the sports car's already impressive performance levels even further. Musk mentioned the use of rocket thrusters, which wasn't only hilarious, but also surprising for a company that prides itself on making fossil-fuel-free vehicles.

After letting everyone simmer a little, Musk came out and revealed the fact we'd be looking at cold-air thrusters and not some rocket propellant-burning device. Well, it looks like our man Frederik Steve Kristensen missed that memo when he decided to conjure up a concept vehicle that fuses the ethos of Musk's two main companies: Tesla Motors and SpaceX.

The Danish designer even threw a bit of SR-71 Blackbird and some land speed record vehicles into his mood board, and the result is as extreme as you would expect. He calls his creation the Tesla SpaceX Concept and it looks like the kind of car that somebody would make just to beat the future Roadster's acceleration and cause Musk's vein to pop open.

There is almost nothing Tesla about it. Apart from the fact it uses electric motors for normal driving (if you really need 1,500 hp for "normal driving"), the rest is completely alien to the range of products coming from the Palo Alto-based company, starting with its design.

The Tesla SpaceX Concept falls into that category of extreme hypercars that could take any badge on their body and make as much (or as little) sense as wearing any other. Could this be a Koenigsegg? Sure. A Lambo? Why not. Jaguar? Polestar? Yes, yes, and one more yes for any other brand you might think of.

Then there's the pair of turbo ramjet engines. Frederik says the two of them would offer an output of 15,000 hp, enabling the concept to reach 100 km/h (62 mph) in 1.8 seconds and a top speed of 850 km/h (528 mph). Not only would the hypercar run out of track very quickly anywhere on Earth at that speed but looking at it we doubt it can generate the kind of downforce necessary to keep it stable at that kind of speed.

Well, it is only a digital concept, after all, so discussing practical aspects is completely pointless. If we're to criticize Frederik's work, we'll stick to the two main points we've already mentioned: the lack of identity of its design and the use of ramjet engines. Other than that, the project is carefully put together and the renderings are pretty awesomely executed.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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