Tesla Roadster Synchronicity and Drag Race

[John W. Ratcliff]

I know, for a lot of us, a big motivating factor in owning a Tesla Roadster is just how rare the vehicle is. In fact, when I bought mine earlier this year, I had never seen one in real-life, only photographs.

Once I got my car and took it in to be serviced, Tesla told me that I owned just one of only two Roadsters in the entire greater St. Louis area. I figured there was a good chance I would see the other Roadster at a car show or a Tesla sponsored event, but that never happened.

Last Saturday I was attending a party, and I didn't really know any of the guests other than the guy who invited me, a musician friend of mine.

During general conversation the topic of electric cars came up and, of course, I interjected that I owned a Tesla. The woman to my right said, "Yeah, me too. What model do you have?" I sort of smugly said, "I own a Tesla Roadster sports car." She replied, "Me too!"

I absolutely couldn't believe it. There are millions of people in the greater St. Louis area and for me to just randomly bump into the only other Roadster owner at a party was pretty surreal.

However, that wasn't the end of it. Since the only person I knew at the party was the musician, I asked this woman, "How do you know Brad?", to which she replied, "He's my husband." So, not only did I randomly meet the only other Roadster owner, but she was married to my friend who had invited me! I hadn't seen Brad in a couple of years, and he had gotten married since the last time I saw him.

As we continued to chat about cars, I learned that she was the original owner of a 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport 2.0 model with only 7,000 miles on it and....her other car is a Tesla Model-S P90D with ludicrous mode!! (She's a doctor and does pretty well for herself if anyone is curious...)

I was already planning on going to the drag races with my new BMW M3 to try it out, but I suggested she bring her two Teslas to the event. She had never done any kind of a track event in her life, but said it sounded like a lot of fun.

So, last night, we had the only two Tesla Roadsters in a several hundred mile radius on the track for a rare drag race. I pulled a 13.2 1/4 mile, she did 13.1. I got the best time of the night overall with a 13.08.

Here's links to a couple of videos showing our 'race'.

I know in the video above it looks like I won (the red Tesla) but according to the time slips, she beat me in the end.

She and her husband purchased racing helmets and go-pros just for this one night out. Here's the video Brad put together. I apologize for the amateur hour getting to the lights; it was her first time ever drag racing and my first run of the night.

Finally, if that wasn't enough, another one of my Tesla friends was there in his Model-S. He decided to take it onto the drift course! Something which I thought was literally insane. He has a beautiful car, but it's super high mileage and sometimes he seems to act like it is some old Toyota Camry or something.

Considering any body damage at all, his insurance wouldn't have covered it, and he would have been out of pocket for possibly tens of thousands of dollars in repairs, there is no way I would have had the balls to do what he did.

Now, it's not like he smoked the place out or anything but, nevertheless, it took an awful lot of nerve to do this!

 

[hcsharp]

Great story!

 

[Carl W]

Enjoyed your story. What a crazy coincidence, and a fun night at the races. Since buying my #311 a few months ago, I have seen only two roadsters, but didn't talk to either owner. The first was a "very orange" that I think resides in my small town, but that isn't driven much. Saw her at a public mailbox drive up drop off, and tried to say hi but was a smidgen too late. The other was I parked next to blue validation prototype #31 while my daughter and I went for a run. When we returned, it was gone. Would have left a note to say hi but being that there's no glove box in my car, I wasn't carrying a pen or paper!

You've made me wonder if there's a drag strip anywhere around me. Can't think of one, but will do a search. It really is amazing just how rare a Roadster sighting is. I think most sit parked in a garage, but mine gets driven every day.

 

[John W. Ratcliff]

Enjoyed your story. What a crazy coincidence, and a fun night at the races. Since buying my #311 a few months ago, I have seen only two roadsters, but didn't talk to either owner. The first was a "very orange" that I think resides in my small town, but that isn't driven much. Saw her at a public mailbox drive up drop off, and tried to say hi but was a smidgen too late. The other was I parked next to blue validation prototype #31 while my daughter and I went for a run. When we returned, it was gone. Would have left a note to say hi but being that there's no glove box in my car, I wasn't carrying a pen or paper!

You've made me wonder if there's a drag strip anywhere around me. Can't think of one, but will do a search. It really is amazing just how rare a Roadster sighting is. I think most sit parked in a garage, but mine gets driven every day.

I really recommend taking your car to the drag races. While I don't want to 'over sell' it, it's definitely something worth doing once. The claimed 1/4 mile time for a Roadster sport is 12.7 seconds. In practice, I have never managed to get faster than 13.01. Then again, the race track is about an hour from my home, so I never get there with a full charge, or even a 'performance charge', assuming that makes any difference. Also, I'm a heavy guy, so I add about an extra 100 pounds or so over a normal, not so fat, driver.

If you end up getting anything higher than 13.0 you can assume that's the cost of your reaction time, and you should be able to trim that down. If you break into the 12's, that would be awesome.

I just got invited to show my car at the St. Louis Auto Show (which is a really huge event). I'm psyched about being able to share the car with the entire St. Louis region.

 

[ML Auto]

If you end up getting anything higher than 13.0 you can assume that's the cost of your reaction time, and you should be able to trim that down. If you break into the 12's, that would be awesome.

You reaction time has nothing to do with your 1/4 mile time. The track timer starts when you leave-not when the light turns green.

The performance charge makes a lot of difference. You need to try it at least once.