Tesla finally rolled out the second generation Roadster on Thursday night at SpaceX’s test site in McGregor, Texas. Then, instead of just talking about it, they flew it.
The trick is a SpaceX package built into the car. Ten cold gas thrusters sit around the body, fed by a tank of compressed air, roughly 600 liters and about 260 kilos of it, placed where the back seats would normally go. A fan system underneath sucks the car toward the road with more than 2 Gs of grip.
On the night, the Roadster hovered off the ground, climbed a giant curved ramp and stopped dead while hanging perpendicular on its face, then drove upside down along the underside of the top. It launched into the air and flipped on the thrusters, a move Tesla calls a kickflip, and landed on all four wheels. It also barrel rolled clear over a lineup of other Teslas, and in a live run it went from 0 to 60 mph in 0.8 seconds.
Musk called the car “the best of the last human-driven cars” and said it takes “the fun meter to 11.”
“It takes the fun meter to 11.”
Elon Musk, at the reveal
Now the fine print, because there is plenty of it. Tesla gave no price, no range and no firm date, only a promise that production starts in 2028. This car was first shown back in 2017, so Thursday’s show lands nine years into the wait, and the wildest numbers from the night are Tesla’s own claims, not independently verified results.
Believe the 2028 promise or not, the flip is on video. A car left the ground, turned over in the air and landed on its wheels, on purpose, in front of a crowd. That part happened.
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