Tesla Roadster vs Tesla Roadster drag racing

[Palpatine]

August 7th, 2009 at Pacific Raceways near Seattle...
Tesla Roadster Sport in the foreground...

Image by ScottFe

More pictures and videos to come and will be posted in this thread.

 

[doug]

That photo is BOSS!

 

[Palpatine]

4 Tesla Roadsters in a row in the right lane vs ICE cars.

 

[Palpatine]

2010 Tesla Roadster Sport (red) vs 2010 Tesla Roadster (blue)
That is DaveD (yellow Tesla) waiting to go next.

 

[Palpatine]

2010 Tesla Roadster Sport (right lane) vs 2008 Tesla Roadster at Pacific Raceways 8/7/09

If you look closely in this video, the 2008 Tesla in the left lane got a PERFECT start with a reaction time of 0.00 seconds. My reaction time was 0.24 seconds. My quarter mile time was 2/10 of a second faster (12.96 vs 13.16), but he nipped me at the finish by 0.04 seconds because of his incredible start. That was ScottFe's son driving at the time. His first time at the track. It was a great race.

another angle of the same race and you hear the announcer mention the perfect start...

 

[Palpatine]

TomSax running vs an obsolete gas burner...

 

[Palpatine]

Waiting in the lanes for our next round of 1/4 mile racing...

 

[Tdave]

2010 Tesla Roadster Sport (right lane) vs 2008 Tesla Roadster at Pacific Raceways 8/7/09

Looks like the Sport had a passenger?

 

[Palpatine]

Another Tesla vs Tesla race. I am in the right lane.

 

[Palpatine]

Looks like the Sport had a passenger?

No. That was me leaning over and posing for the camera. A Roadster cockpit is small. It doesn't take much to reach across.

 

[TEG]

That photo is BOSS!

Yeah and bad-ass too!!!

 

[ChrisC]

2010 Tesla Roadster Sport (red) vs 2010 Tesla Roadster (blue)
That is DaveD (yellow Tesla) waiting to go next.

I love the sound of the two Teslas in this one, slightly out of sync and sounding otherwordly. And then at the end you hear an ICE engine revving, and it sounds ... crude.

 

[Palpatine]

Tesla Cam: turn down the sound, it is not good. But the perspective of the driver video is interesting if you have not done this before. This was taken from the driver who did a perfect start reaction time of 0.00. Not me.

The track seems dark in the video. But it is actually well lit by flood lights. It was a very safe and controlled environment to go 0-100 mph.

This is not stressful for the car at all. Whereas with a normal car they would be shifting hard to get through the 1/4 mile, the Tesla Roadster is just very enthusiastically accelerating just like you would be driving on a highway. Instead of stopping at 75 or 80 mph, you just continue to about 100 mph for the 1/4 mile. Then I don't even really use the brakes to slow down. The regen braking is enough to slow down for the turnaround.

This car was perfectly designed for this 1/4 mile driving. Your grandma could do it. In fact, my grandmother could likely do it better than me because she weighs less than I do.

 

[Palpatine]

That photo is BOSS!

I agree. It is the new background on my screen.

 

[Palpatine]

12.643 seconds

12.715 seconds

 

[tomsax]

Learning how to drag race...

I got four runs at the Pacific Raceways drag races, and learned a bit more about drag racing the Roadster.

I did a two-footed start on all my runs. My first run (TC on, 13.299 sec ET, 100.16 mph) was slightly improved over my best run the first night in Portland (also two-footed start, TC on, 13.363 sec ET, 100.07). My third and fourth runs were with TC off and my times improved by over 0.1 seconds, my best was: 13.179 sec ET, 101.85 mph.

I think Friday at Pacific and Friday in Portland were pretty comparable for battery state. I had more charge, but similar battery pack temps with no charging at the track warming up the pack.

My reaction times were uniformly terrible, and I botched my second run by slipping forward, so I definitely need some more work on the two-footed starts.

 

[Tdave]

My first run (TC on, 12.299 sec ET, 100.16 mph) ...

Think you mean 13.299 sec ET.

 

[tomsax]

Think you mean 13.299 sec ET.

You are correct. Thanks for pointing out the error.

 

[SByer]

I love the sound of the two Teslas in this one, slightly out of sync and sounding otherwordly. And then at the end you hear an ICE engine revving, and it sounds ... crude.

I think that's one of the unexpected side effects of owning a Roadster. ICE cars, including the Ferrari on the freeway the other day, now just sound crude and inefficient. Having to drive my wife's gasser, it just amazes me how the subtle ICE cues just ruin the driving experience. I'm now spoiled - the Roadster is a peaceful glide down the freeway compared to the nasty gotta-try-hard machinations of the other cars I've owned.

James' picture just rocks, and anyone out there ordering, black wheels are clearly the correct answer for RR (MTBO).

 

[Fezman92]

These videos and that photo are so cool! Honestly, I have never heard a Tesla run before I saw these videos. They sound like Segways.