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The Tesla Roadster II Feels like an Extreme Amusement Ride

The clips from the YouTubers who were at yesterday evening's Tesla event - there's no point in calling it the "Semi presentation" because it was much more than that - are starting to roll in and with every new one we find out more things about the electric sports car.
Brooks from DragTimes with a Tesla Roadster prototype 1 photo
Photo: YouTube screenshot
The most important specs were laid out by Elon Musk right on the stage: 1.9 seconds for the 0-60 mph sprint, 4.2 for 0-100 mph, the standing quarter mile in 8.9 seconds, a top speed of over 250 mph, and a maximum range at highway speeds of at least 620 miles. And all that for the "base version," though we fail to see how it could be improved.

After the event, people who made a $5,000 deposit for the car were treated to a passenger experience in the prototype through an on-location course. Though short, it was enough for the new Roadster to reach 81 miles per hour (that's 130 km/h) and sample its beyond-ludicrous acceleration.

One of the people who was convinced to make a deposit for the 2020 Roadster was Brooks Weisblat from DragTimes. You might remember him from various clips where he races supercars against each other or, more recently, against his Tesla Model S P100D. Just for to get the whole picture, Brooks also owns a McLaren 720S, and he's drag raced countless fast cars.

From his own account, he didn't go into this test drive expecting to feel much of a difference to his P100D. To be fair, the performance sedan's acceleration is pretty brutal, especially up to 60 mph where it's the quickest production car. Well, he was probably wrong on other occasions in his life, but never this much.

Since timing cars is what he does, Brooks decides to measure the Roadster's acceleration time using his app, but sadly something went wrong, and we don't get a confirmation of the 1.9 seconds time. What we do get a confirmation of is that going Plaid can be bad for your neck if you don't have it pushed back in the seat.

The torque of the three-motor car - that would be 10,000 Nm or 7,375 lb-ft, according to Musk - is too much for the tires even with Tesla's traction control system in place, so you can hear them spin a little. Emile, the driver for the night, is cheeky enough to go skip the "go" in the countdown and slam the pedal at "one," which clearly took Brooks by surprise and added a bit to the experience.

Not only does it look like it offers the same sensations as an extreme amusement ride, but it also seems to make grown-up men act like children. "Can we do it again?" asks Brooks after he was finished catching his breath following the first run. He didn't even finish his sentence before Emile stomped on the throttle once more. Because, let's face it, he must have been the happiest and luckiest kid on the planet that evening.

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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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