hat incredible sensation of whoosh is still there after ten years! With 295lb ft of instant torque and 288bhp on tap, the Tesla Roadster Sport is dramatically fast in otherworldly fashion. Amazing to think that this is pretty much the first of the current wave of electric cars, having sprung out of the trap in 2006 and launched Tesla into the vanguard of automotive technology. Its performance remains, ahem, electrifying, if slightly weird.
That equally weird but smart billionaire, Elon Musk, decided to back internet pioneers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning's all-electric car and approached Lotus to help with the design and engineering, using its lively and lightweight Elise sports car as a template.
Again, a bit weird - you'd think an electric vehicle should be practical for ostensibly urban use, and the low-slung, two-door open Elise is hardly that. Musk obviously knew what he was doing - grabbing attention - as he now owns the world's most valuable automotive company ($71.9bn in June 2024). He later admitted that the Lotus was not the best starting point, as only about 7% of the donor was retained for the Tesla Roadster and just 2456 examples were manufactured between 2008 and 2012.
The first prototypes were released in Santa Monica (where else?) in 2006 and Musk received the first road car. It is 2in longer than the Elise, with a stiffer chassis to take its greater weight being packed with lithium-ion batteries (in a world first for a car), at 1237kg it's a lot heavier than the flyweight Elise. Its induction motor is air-cooled, and the Borg Warner transmission has a single ratio, which gets the Roadster to 60mph in just 3.7sec.
Range is claimed to be 244 miles.
Denne historien er fra January 2025-utgaven av Octane.
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Denne historien er fra January 2025-utgaven av Octane.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
The Pro route to faster lap times
Mercedes-AMG GT 63 Pro 4Matic+
The power to corrupt
2024 Aston Martin Vanquish
Hyperactivate!
1967 Austin-Cooper MkII 998 by Crafted Classics Tuning Glen Waddington
De Tomaso Racing Blue Blood
IF THE MARQUE De Tomaso is mainly familiar to you through cars such as the Mangusta, the Pantera, maybe the Longchamps and, if you're next-level classic car geek, racers such as the P70, then the sheer variety to be found in this mammoth tome is going to come as something of a shock. There are literally dozens profiled here, and one or two will probably be news to even the most seasoned enthusiast.
The best watch in the world
We've been here, but it bears repeating these gems will soon be cheaper than a 1st class stamp
A star is reborn
This recently revived coachbuilt beauty made the final four at the Pebble Beach concours in August
REINVENTING THE WHEEL
The gyroscopically stabilised Gyro-X blurred the line between reality and science fiction. Sam Glover takes the prototype for a spin
SAYONARA GT-R
After a remarkable 17-year career, the supercar-humbling Nissan GT-R bows out on a high
Shiro Nakamura
Nissan’s long-standing Chief Creative Officer became architect of the marque’s style-led revival… and is also known as ‘Mr GT-R’
LIGHT SPARKS
How does the electric Tesla Roadster compare today?
