This has been said a few times in various threads but it seems to me that an 85kWh Model S would be more than adequate to preform the longest Pro Tour races. Just think of a fleet of electric vehicles leading/following the peleton. No emissions for the riders to breath. Nice and quite like the bicycles. Huge interior volume. No need for fueling logistics the morning of the race. Sure the Model S maybe a bit wide for some of those old roads. But otherwise I think it would be way cool. Maybe their first 'ad' needs to be replacing Nissan on the "RadioShack/Nissan/Trek" team.
I keep having the same thought! I am not a street biker but there are many around the northwest pacific. A model S could go way longer than any bike road trip would be ~ 400 mi would be easy w/ no charge.
not exactly Pro Tour but we are supporting this 24 hour event with the Roadster; Action Medical Research RIDE24
Nice idea. They could remove the hatchback cover, reconfigure the rear facing seats a bit and have a camera person there.
Model Ss could easily replace all the peloton cars in the multi-day pro tours. Would be great to see this happen. As well as getting Electric Motorcycles as well. And, it's the motorcycles that are the worst since they stay ahead of the riders. The team cars are behind the main peloton. If there is a "break" then some cars will be allowed in front, but not when the peloton chases to within 30 or less seconds...Ok, I could go on about this all day.
For both cycling and running, it would be a great support car. Or camera car. I mean, it's got to suck riding up front with a camera truck in front of you, spewing noxiousness. Plus, it's so much easier to hit and stick a speed, or match the changing speed of something you're following or leading, in an EV.
Watching the olympics cycling road race this morning made me think of this thread, and how those poor cyclists are breathing in fumes from all the support cars and motorcycle escorts. Just need to be sure the model S can sport one of those 6-bike roof racks! That's a long bike race by the way - 250km! butt hurts just thinking of that.
Randonneur riders ride up to 1000 km. When I was younger and did randonneur riding, I could ride 300 km in 12 hours and still feel fresh. Of course, we never had support cars the way racers do.
I'm surprised they weren't using ActiveEs. 160 miles at 30mph would seem doable. They've had adequate time to build some longer range 3 Series wagons if needed.
As implied by my user name, I am an avid road cyclist. I attend a lot of races and watch everything on TV. I could not imagine better advertisement and promotion for Tesla than to provide a fleet of Model S and eventually Model X cars to the Pro Tour and to various pro teams, especially the American sponsored teams like Radio Shack, BMC, and Garmin Sharp. When I have attended the Tour de France I always see the Skoda cars used by race officials and thought they are pretty nice looking, but have never seen one in the U.S. Plus, I would assume the Tesla would receive a lot of publicity by the media covering these races, as a benefit to riders with zero emissions. Go for it Tesla.
Nissan did some ad campaign for the Leaf with Lance Armstrong. Did they ever actually use the Leaf in a bike race?
Maybe Tesla shouls support the Tour of California! It's on their home-turf! They can use their "marketing-cars" ;-)
Probably not. I bet they wouldn't make the distance. Most protour races are over 120 miles. And even with 'low' speeds the driving is pretty jerkey.
Great ad, Ad! Well, he spoke of donating. Not lending with any expectation of getting his car back in shape.