Mat Watson gives his honest verdict on the new Tesla Roadster

It’s been nine long years, but Elon Musk has finally launched the updated Tesla Roadster – and I mean that literally. The car can actually fly, and that’s just the start. Tesla has set itself a truly astonishing top speed goal which even the likes of Bugatti, Koenigsegg and Hennessey haven’t dared to attempt.

Elon Musk has a long history of not keeping promises when it comes to the Tesla Roadster. It was first meant to go on sale in 2020, then 2021, 2023, 2024 and so on. So when he said the car would be able to fly courtesy of a SpaceX rocket thruster package, I didn’t really believe it.

But now, I might have to eat some humble pie. In a series of astonishing stunts, the Roadster flew, jumped and barrel rolled over the entire Tesla lineup – including the giant Semi truck.

So how on earth is this possible? Well the Roadster comes with a set of cold gas thrusters which were developed using SpaceX technology. They’re basically directional nozzles through which you can dump 250kg worth of air at the speed of sound, delivering the same amount of thrust as the jet engine in an F18 Hornet fighter jet.

And they’re not just for dodging traffic jams, they’re also used to push this car from 0-60mph in 0.81 seconds. If that time can be verified, it would be one of the biggest leaps forward in acceleration in history. It’s six tenths of a second quicker than I managed in the bonkers McMurtry Speirling.

Musk also claims that the Roadster will crush every track record that has ever existed thanks to the set of underbody fans which suck the car into the road – just like the McMurtry. Tesla demonstrated this by parking it upside down 70 feet in the air, but I can see a problem.

The Roadster needs 4.7 tonnes of force to stick it to the ceiling, and that must mean it’s very heavy. Certainly heavier than the 1.3-tonne McMurtry. That car can pull three G of lateral load in the corners, whereas the Roadster can pull two G.

This means the McMurtry will probably corner a lot faster than the Roadster, but Tesla will have the edge on top speed. Elon Musk says Tesla is aiming for a top speed of 380mph, which is 70mph faster than the Yangwang U8’s current world record. If Tesla manages this, Bugatti, Koenigsegg and Hennessey might as well give up and go home, because the highest top speed any of those brands has claimed is 340mph from the Hennessey Venom F5.

But that’s only if Tesla can pull it off, and based on this presentation that could take some time yet. If you look closely, we were shown a lot of different cars. The one in the close-ups had lovely two-tone six-spoke wheels, whereas the flying car had big, black aero covers.

If you freeze the video when the car was airborne, you can also see that it doesn’t look like a production car underneath. That metal frame chassis isn’t production-ready, and it doesn’t appear to have any rear suspension either. I reckon this is a stripped-out, lightened shell used for the flying demonstration, and those wheel covers could also be hiding smaller brakes.

To be fair, Tesla never said that these cars are production-ready, and they’ve been set up to do something pretty crazy in front of an audience. It does beg the question though: when will the finished Roadster finally go into production?

Well if the last nine years of delays has taught me anything, it’s that Elon wants to get this right – not just get it done. This means you can take his latest production deadline of 2028 with a hefty pinch of salt.

Tesla still has a few stunts up its sleeve yet, including a top speed record attempt and an Evel Knievel-inspired jump over the Snake River Canyon. However, I don’t think a death-defying leap is going to be Tesla’s biggest challenge with this car – I think it’ll be putting it into production.

Is any government on Earth going to allow a rocket-powered flying car on, or hovering slightly above, its roads? If Tesla can pull it off, I think it’ll be one of the wildest cars ever made. I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

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