T-Roadster, bound to be interesting track car.

[danny]

Think about it, light with chassis of elise and low center of gravity. Then add instant torque and "lack of sound". ITs gonna be something unheard of.
Like an electric gocart. What do you think?
Also there will be for the most part no gears to worrry about which sounds kinda cool in a way.
Gotta be an easy car to track.

 

[feelthesweetbeat]

I currently am competetively racing in SCCA and will be moving into NASA time trials within the next year... I would love to be part of a factory racing effort. A huge point to make for a brand new car with unqualified technology is track proven performance. I would be happy to put it through its paces.

 

[danny]

I plan to organize some track events for roadster owners sometime in the future. This will probably happen in
California mostly.

 

[feelthesweetbeat]

Perfect, I live in LA!!! It may be a good idea to have a demo model where non-owners/non-deposit holders can ride along in. Myself, owning two very high maintenance cars in a location where living costs are sky high will not be able to afford one for some time unless some miracle happens. Id be bummed if i couldnt get at least a taste of the ability. keep me informed!!

 

[paco3791]

not to sound like a dick or anything but has anyone on this forum actually signed on the dotted line for an '07 tesla? If so, congrats (you lucky bastard)!

 

[danny]

not to sound like a dick or anything but has anyone on this forum actually signed on the dotted line for an '07 tesla?  If so, congrats (you lucky bastard)!

There is one member who is signed up for a roadster already. I'm not sure about the others.
When the white star come out, I would guess quite a few of the members will consider it.

 

[WarpedOne]

not to sound like a dick or anything but has anyone on this forum actually signed on the dotted line for an '07 tesla?  If so, congrats (you lucky bastard)!

i'd love to put my money where my mouth is, but whereas i do have mouth, i don't have the money :'(

 

[paco3791]

well at least everyone is honest. I have some hope for the white star as well, but would prefer the roadster as a commuter/weekender. With a Diesel car for long trips and everything else. Well I can dream anyway, If I can somehow get the price into the 60-70K range it is almost doable. Maybe some relative will leave me a boat load of cash I don't know about.

 

[tonybelding]

I want the Roadster, not the four-door car. I haven't placed an order, but I'm hoping I can swing a 2008 model . . . or 2009 at the latest.

As an everyday grocery-getting car, my plain-Jane 1995 Bonneville still has a lot of life left in it. When I'm ready to replace it, I might look at something from Tesla, or Toyota, or GM. . . They could all have plug-in cars for consideration by that time.

I'm aware that one or two guys over on the LotusTalk forum have placed orders for the Roadster.

Now, getting back to the original subject. . . Is range going to be a problem for a track car? How much driving do you guys do on a typical track day? I reckon if I took mine down to Texas Motor Speedway, I'd definitely have to trailer it and start out with a full charge on the track. Having enough "juice" for a day's activities is my only concern, and otherwise I'd expect it to be tremendously good at that sort of thing.

 

[malachite]

I plan to organize some track events for roadster owners sometime in the future. This will probably happen in
California mostly.

With all due respect, how are you envisioning this will work? Having been to countless "track days" my experience is that your typical sports car gets 5-7 mpg while on track. Given the Tesla has a 250 mile range (or about the equivalent of a tank of gas), it would seem that you'd run out of juice around lunch, or maybe early afternoon if you are slow ;D.

That is, assuming you started with a full charge, which is to assume you spent the night before in a local hotel where you somehow had means to plug it in and fully charge it. And then you'd have the problem of needing to get home that night. I would think the only reasonable option would be to trailer the TR to/from the track, and be satisfied with 1/2 - 3/4 day of track time.

Out of curiosity, has Tesla said anything about track suitability? Like will the battery blow up if you try to draw very high currents out of it for 20-30 minutes straight, as one would during a track session? Not that this is a unique problem to electric cars - many gas powered cars (though usually only modified ones) suffer from "heat soak" at the track.

- John <-- just joined the forum. no Telsa roadster but I do have a Lotus Elise, which is tons of fun at the track! Hope to have an electric sports car someday...

 

[shido6]

How easy can you swap out the batteries?

Pictures?

What does the AC outlet charger look like?

Pictures?

 

[danny]

I plan to organize some track events for roadster owners sometime in the future. This will probably happen in
California mostly.

With all due respect, how are you envisioning this will work? Having been to countless "track days" my experience is that your typical sports car gets 5-7 mpg while on track. Given the Tesla has a 250 mile range (or about the equivalent of a tank of gas), it would seem that you'd run out of juice around lunch, or maybe early afternoon if you are slow ;D.

That is, assuming you started with a full charge, which is to assume you spent the night before in a local hotel where you somehow had means to plug it in and fully charge it. And then you'd have the problem of needing to get home that night. I would think the only reasonable option would be to trailer the TR to/from the track, and be satisfied with 1/2 - 3/4 day of track time.

Out of curiosity, has Tesla said anything about track suitability? Like will the battery blow up if you try to draw very high currents out of it for 20-30 minutes straight, as one would during a track session? Not that this is a unique problem to electric cars - many gas powered cars (though usually only modified ones) suffer from "heat soak" at the track.

- John <-- just joined the forum. no Telsa roadster but I do have a Lotus Elise, which is tons of fun at the track! Hope to have an electric sports car someday...

Tracking the tesla roadster may be possible if one installs the 3 hr chargers at the track. I am looking into this as I speak and will get back to you on this. Yes trailering the car is another option. My idea is drive say 100 miles to a track, get it hooked up right away, get on the track, in between track sessions hook it up again, hook it up at lunch time an then at the end of the track day hang around for a little while you make sure it has at least enough to get you home. This might work....let me know what you think..
GS

 

[tonybelding]

Tracking the tesla roadster may be possible if one installs the 3 hr chargers at the track. I am looking into this as I speak and will get back to you on this.

I believe that with the portable charger you can get a charge from a RV hookup. I'm not sure how long it would take, but if you can find a 50-amp hookup it might be as fast as the dedicated Tesla charging station.

 

[Electric4Me]

I've been thinking about this a lot too.  In fact, that's what lead me to the club a fewminutes ago, wondering if anyone had started it yet.  Glad to see someone had!  I was also going to start looking into TMC track events in CA, but someone beat me to that too!  I can always help out...

Anyhow, every driver will want to start out with a full charge, whether that's by staying in a hotel and plugging in overnight, or by trailering it to the track, though this defeats the purpose of the ecar!  See TM's CTO JB Straubel's efforts in this regard: http://www.jstraubel.com/EVpusher/EVpusher2.htm

Since most track events include at least 1.5 hours of down time in between sessions, plugging in to any outlet will help.  Over time, the track staff may be persuaded (especially with outside sponsorship!) to install at least 240V outlets.  I think that with a full charge and "boosting" for 1.5 hours between sessions a full day can be had.  Time will tell!

Of course, keeping a bunch of e-vehicles charged at the same time could take a dedicated sub-station beside the track!

-Bill

 

[tonybelding]

I have been told that even with a 50-amp RV hookup, you are still looking at about six hours for a full charge.

 

[danny]

I've been thinking about this a lot too.  In fact, that's what lead me to the club a fewminutes ago, wondering if anyone had started it yet.  Glad to see someone had!  I was also going to start looking into TMC track events in CA, but someone beat me to that too!  I can always help out...

Anyhow, every driver will want to start out with a full charge, whether that's by staying in a hotel and plugging in overnight, or by trailering it to the track, though this defeats the purpose of the ecar!  See TM's CTO JB Straubel's efforts in this regard: http://www.jstraubel.com/EVpusher/EVpusher2.htm

Since most track events include at least 1.5 hours of down time in between sessions, plugging in to any outlet will help.  Over time, the track staff may be persuaded (especially with outside sponsorship!) to install at least 240V outlets.  I think that with a full charge and "boosting" for 1.5 hours between sessions a full day can be had.  Time will tell!

Of course, keeping a bunch of e-vehicles charged at the same time could take a dedicated sub-station beside the track!

-Bill

I would be glad for you to help. At the moment I have not been looking into this for I am out of the country but when the teslas roadsters start coming in to the customers, we'll talk about it more.

 

[Kardax]

There are signs that Tesla is looking to standardize on 16KW public chargers, which is enough to give around a 45% charge in a 1.5 hour downtime between track sessions, if you can get them installed there

So, really, the only open question is if 24KWH is enough to last a full track session. In a theoretical worst-case scenario, that's about 8 minutes at continuous full engine power. I think that seems pretty unlikely, but perhaps a track veteran here can explain how much time is spent at full power...

-Ryan

 

[TEG]

Do keep in mind that the Roadster can do 200 mile+ range in part because of high efficiency tires.

If you put sticky racing tires on it I would bet the range suffers.

 

[danny]

Does the roadster not come with yokohama highperformance summer tires?

 

[TEG]

http://www.yokohama.co.nz/news.php?id=31#story12

Tesla picks Advan Neovas for its electric Roadster

Dec 06, 2006

LOS ANGELES (Dec. 4, 2006) –

The lower rolling-resistance qualities of its Advan Neova performance tire line has earned Yokohama Tire Corp. (YTC) original equipment supplier status to Tesla Motors Inc.’s electric Roadster sports car.

“Using Yokohama´s Advan tires on the Tesla Roadster was an easy decision,” said Martin Eberhard, CEO and co-founder of Tesla Motors. “We did a lot of homework and found Advans are the only tires on the market that combine high-performance capability with low rolling resistance, making them a perfect pro-environment complement for our electric sports car.”


Probably a good compromise, but not necessarily the ultimate handling tire.