Roadster at the Oscars

[TEG]

SUVs race the Prius to Oscar green carpet | Entertainment | Reuters

 

[vfx]

I went down to the Oscar red carpet last night. I can see why the Roadster does not work as a drive up. There is the limo entrance that is of course perpendicular to the red carpet so if you were to drive up with a two seater there would be no one to take the car away if both people get out. About 50 feet away is a Valet drop off but it's away from any serious camera action. So you could do the Valet thing but noone would know who you are or what you are (were) driving. Paking in a lot by yourself would be even more useless.

Each ticket gets one guest so if the atendee does want to go alone the Roadster with a (limo) driver works. They only get one limo pass so having the wife / partner in the following limo doeas not work.

Saw George Clooney and Ed Begley. Did not see them arrive though Eco Limo takes a lot of the Green celebs.

 

[siry]

@vfx - that is exactly right. We were going to loan Scott Burns a Roadster last year but then we learned about all the constraints and at the end of the day it would be him driving to a parking lot which is pointless! Things were a lot more straightforward in pre-9/11 days but since then security is very tight on arrivals.

 

[TEG]

Wow! Mystery solved at last!

 

[doug]

Ahh... the Oscars again.... :smile:

Star Turn: Audi and Tesla Motors Expected To Make High-Profile Academy Awards Appearances

The buzz throughout Hollywood is that such megastars as Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt may be driving their Teslas to the Oscar ceremony. Pitt has been nominated for an award in the actor in a leading role category for his performance in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. But Tesla Motors is skittish about confirming who will show up at the red carpet in a $109,000 Tesla Roadster.

"Your question about the Oscars actually is not a simple one to answer," responded Rachel Konrad, Tesla Motors senior communications manager, in an e-mailed response to an Inside Line query. "Tesla doesn't disclose its customer list; many Roadster owners are celebrities and high-net-worth individuals who don't necessarily want the world to know what kind of car they or their family members drive. We need to respect their privacy and security.

"That said, many of our high-profile customers have been very outspoken advocates for Tesla — and, as you can imagine, we certainly would never stop them from raving about their cars! So although we don't actually disclose who our customers are, I can say that all of the people you mention here have been huge advocates."

Maybe this year's organizers can be smarter about the valet service so that celebs can show up in their Roadsters with a date, particularly since now they their own cars. It would be quite a PR coup for Tesla. Heck, I'd rather pull up in some snazzy sports car than the run-of-the-mill limo. Might be harder for my date to exit the vehicle gracefully, however.

 

[Kevin Harney]

Might be harder for my date to exit the vehicle gracefully, however.

That is when you really need to be a gentleman and open the door for her :biggrin: Though Elon did lower those door sills

 

[doug]

Umm... that goes with out saying. It still would be a challenge to not look awkward. I takes some practice.





.

 

[Kevin Harney]

Sometimes it seems that nothing needs to go without saying in this day and age. Most people have lost their manners. ( I am certainly not implying that you did Doug ) Just the ME generation type attitude.

 

[graham]

I have found that exiting the Roadster is much less awkward when the top is down. I wonder if this would be too detrimental to people's hair for the Oscars.

I hope various Oscar attendees and their dates get to practice entering and exiting the Roadster a few times before doing it in front of the camera.

 

[vfx]

I'm not going this year but unless they radically change the layout it will be pointless to drive a Roadster. If the Oscar planners plan to "Go Green" like some of these Hollywood events have been then they might go ahead and make the drive up part of the "show."

LA is has a serious car culture so that could shift things as well.
Check out how many street get closed to the public on the day of the show:
http://oscar.com/media/2009/pdf/StreetClosures.pdf

The cars get driven by valet to an undisclosed location. When I go to dinner at a fancy eatery I always hate the pressure of having to quickly hop out of the car. Add to hiding sunglasses, grabbing jacket, and generally cleaning up my carmess now add the process of reprogramming the car to valet mode while a thousand cameras are pointed at you. How hard is it?

As for the hair thing, high profile celebs could always switch cars a block away

 

[Palpatine]

Did anyone spot a Tesla Roadster at the Oscars? I was recording a few different channels with red carpet coverage, but I have not seen anything yet.

 

[vfx]

This turned out to be a no show:
Just another article saying there would be Teslas.

Global green had nothing and even ecorazzi was a bust.

Found nothing on Tesla here:
Global Green USA
Toyota Hoping Big Stars Hit The Oscars In Next-Generation Prius // Archives // ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip
Velvetpark - Dyke Culture in Bloom Blog Archive Eco Maniac: How Green Does Your Oscar Glow?
Global Green USA

edit:
This article
sort of says that green has gone undercover. Others say the economy is a reason not to be flashy this year.

 

[vfx]

2011 appearance