Lifestyle
Tesla Model S Pulls 1.2 G-Force on the Most Challenging Track Yet
Even with 7 different tracks under our belt, Sonoma Raceway pushed the 48 Tesla Model S to the extreme limits.
This turned out to be the most challenging track we’ve ever raced on. Hardly anything comes close in terms of danger and complexity. Not only is the layout of the course challenging in itself, having walls everywhere added an even greater degree of difficulty. We were happy to have survived the track by not hitting any walls despite having loss control on several occasions.
The Track
Sonoma, formerly Infineon Raceway, is in Northern California, just half an hour north east of San Francisco. It’s a 2.5 mile very technical road course with 12 turns and 160 feet of elevation changes. The track has retaining walls very close to the track so any loss of control can have very serious consequences.
The Tesla Model S
Following correct race lines was of outmost importance on this track and deviating from it could mean sub-optimal times or even loss of control.
Track
- Turn 1: We experienced something alarming right in the middle of turn 1 where the track goes uphill. Our steering wheel locked-up after 1 G of lateral pressure was applied to the front wheels on-camber into the turn.
- Turn 2: More off-camber than it appears, and we ended up sliding there a couple of times. Following the correct racing line and applying acceleration on track out prevented that from happening.
- Turn 3a: Exhilarating! Takes place right over a hill so you can’t really see where you’ll end up on track out. It was fun to be able to follow our instincts and exit within inches off the edge of the track.
- Turn 6 “the carousel”: Pushed our Model S to the upper suspension limits as we pulled a 1.1 to 1.2 lateral G force through the turn without loss of control.
- Turns 8 and 8a: Extremely tricky. The turn appears like a regular S but the slight elevation and camber changes make it a challenge. On exit of 8a, we had to apply a lot of acceleration because without it the Model S will slide sideways until traction control catches it.
- Turn 10: Not technically challenging but a true test of courage since it’s very close to the wall.
Out best lap time was 2:06 in session 3, lap 1. Top speed we reached on the track was 105 mph. Power limitation degraded lap times by approx. 6 seconds per lap.
Charging and Power Consumption
The track has a single 220V/50A outlet at the end of the garage next to the Sunoco fuel station. It had a male twist-on adapter, but unfortunately all we had was a SS2-50P male adapter that we weren’t able to use with the outlet. No RV hookups onsite. We ended up running for two sessions in the morning, going to Vacaville supercharger that’s 37 miles away, and getting back with enough time to complete 2 afternoon sessions. Inn Marin hotel in Novato 10 miles away has a J1772 ChargePoint network charger that we used overnight.
Power consumption was similar to other tracks. The 48 Tesla Model S consumed approximately 4 miles of range per 1 actual mile of distance. A 7 lap session (5 timed laps, 1 warm-up, and 1 cool-down lap) consumed 80 miles of range.
Power limitation due to overheating came up on the first lap despite chilly 55 degree temperature in the morning. Power limitation remained at 160 kWh/mile for most of the day.
Travel
Travel from San Diego to Sonoma took 11 hours, including four 45-minute charging stops in San Juan Capistrano, Tejon Ranch, Harris Ranch, and Gilroy.
ALSO SEE: Interactive Tesla Supercharger Map
Contrary to last year when we were hoping to run into other Tesla owners at a Supercharger, nowadays every supercharger was full when we arrived. Even the newer Supercharger facilities were 7+ stalls were occupied. It makes us wonder what the charging experience will be like as Tesla Motors continues to scale out production of the Model S and upcoming Model X.
| Vacaville Supercharger | Tejon Ranch Supercharger |
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Elon Musk
Tesla primes Cybercabs for 4K streaming and high bandwidth gaming with Starlink integration
Tesla is now shipping Cybercabs from Giga Texas with Starlink hardware built in as standard.
Tesla’s Cybercabs are now leaving Gigafactory Texas with Starlink hardware on the rear hatch in significant numbers, according to drone footage captured Tuesday by longtime Austin drone observer Joe Tegtmeyer. Production at the factory ramped back up after the Labor Day weekend, and his flyover of the outbound lot showed rows of gold Cybercabs alongside Model Y Long Wheelbase units, many carrying the satellite module for the first time as standard equipment rather than a one off retrofit.
Giga Texas today is busy with production coming back up following the long weekend. Of interest today in the outbound lot is the appearance of hundreds of Mode; YL’s and many more Cybercabs and for the 1st time equipped with the Starlink module one the hatch in big numbers.
At… pic.twitter.com/G9yl6s51m4
— Joe Tegtmeyer 🚀 🤠🛸😎 (@JoeTegtmeyer) September 8, 2026
Tesla first showed Starlink built into an actual Cybercab on August 10, when the Robotaxi account posted images of a single gold unit with the antenna integrated into the roofline above the taillights and called it the first Cybercab with Starlink integration. That followed a July reveal where Tesla and Starlink jointly posted a cutaway diagram of the antenna placement without a working vehicle to back it up. Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s VP of AI software, said at the time that the connection isn’t required for the car to drive itself. It exists mainly for navigation, customer service and keeping tabs on the fleet.
Musk has made a different case in public. During Tesla’s Q2 earnings call, he said the company can’t afford robotaxis stranded in what he called “Bermuda Triangles of lack of cellular connectivity,” and he separately claimed on X that Starlink will eventually reach every Tesla built, calling it the only way to deliver high bandwidth to billions of vehicles. He has also pitched the antenna as an entertainment upgrade, telling riders they would be able to stream 4K video or play games during a trip.
The rollout has moved fast since. Robotaxi service opened to the public in Austin on September 3, and Cybercabs had already been spotted with Starlink hardware in Houston and near Miami International Airport in the weeks before Tuesday’s factory footage showed the module shipping at volume rather than on scattered test units. Whether the satellite link earns its keep is still an open question. Tesla’s unsupervised service currently runs in dense metro geofences in Texas and Florida, markets where cellular coverage is already strong, which is not where the rural dead zones Musk describes tend to show up.
Lifestyle
Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory
Tesla launched a $350 tailgate track and a $985 lockable Bed Gear Box for Cybertruck.
Tesla’s Cybertruck team added two more items to the Tesla Shop, targeting job site crews and owners who use the truck bed for actual work rather than just showing it off. The official Cybertruck X account posted the Tailgate Utility Track and the Bed Gear Box within minutes of each other, part of a five item batch that also included a reflective jacket, a spray paint hat and an updated reflective tee.
The Tailgate Utility Track runs $350 and turns the folded down tailgate into another mounting surface. It’s a single aluminum track with a T-slot for sliding accessories and two L-track attachment points, plus two load stops included in the box. The pitch is straightforward: strap down oversized cargo, like lumber or a cooler, that hangs off the back of the bed without it sliding out mid-drive. It bolts onto the existing tailgate and works on every Cybertruck trim.
Tailgate Utility Trackhttps://t.co/PCAYXlFBvS pic.twitter.com/sCV2NVxf1W
— Cybertruck (@cybertruck) September 3, 2026
The Bed Gear Box costs $985 and is a different kind of accessory. It’s a lockable aluminum storage box, 55.78 inches long, 19.8 inches wide and 7.79 inches tall, that mounts to the bed’s L-track rails and comes with two internal bins for smaller items. According to Tesla, at just over 57 pounds empty, it’s meant to stay in place rather than come in and out with each trip, giving owners a factory-fit alternative to loose totes for tools, recovery gear or emergency supplies. Tesla’s listing notes that Long Range and Dual Motor AWD Cybertrucks need the L-Tracks accessory installed separately before the Gear Box will mount, since L-tracks come standard only on certain configurations.
Both accessories lean on the idea Tesla has been building toward since Elon Musk first described the Cybertruck’s third-party attachment strategy at the 2023 shareholder meeting, when he said the truck would ship with mounting points so outside companies, and Tesla itself, could keep adding gear without redesigning the bed. That’s the same L-track backbone underneath the tailgate shield and jumpseats Tesla launched last year, and the off-road armor package that arrived through the same X account in 2025.
Owners looking to round out the rest of the L-track ecosystem, cargo dividers, MOLLE panels, bed racks and similar gear, can find a wider range of options through our Cybertruck accessories collection.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk says he knows how to save Earth for a billion years
Elon Musk says sentient AI satellites launched from the Moon could keep Earth livable forever.
Elon Musk spent part of his weekend describing a plan to keep the planet livable for roughly a billion years, and it starts with satellites that can think for themselves.
In a post on X, Musk argued that swapping fossil fuels for solar and wind power will not be enough to protect humanity from what he called extremely severe extinction events, the kind that occur roughly every 100 million years. His fix is what he called sentient satellites, or solar-powered satellites, controlled by AI, that would sit in a fixed spot between Earth and the Sun after being launched off the Moon using a giant electromagnetic catapult instead of rockets.
The satellites’ onboard AI would make continuous, small adjustments rather than waiting on human instructions. The mass driver is Musk’s proposed way of getting the raw material there cheaply by using an electromagnetic launch track built on the Moon, where lower gravity and no atmosphere make it far easier to fling cargo into space than it is from Earth.
But we do need to act much faster than that if people still want to live where the beach is today. We have about 50 years or so to take action, which should be more than enough time for the space satellites to solve any heating problems. https://t.co/xhrVQALwQw
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 30, 2026
Musk shared a Grok generated estimate suggesting roughly 5 percent of Florida’s land, or about 1.68 million acres, could face regular flooding by 2070 under a high sea level rise scenario, and said humanity has about 50 years to act before coastal living looks very different than it does today.
This is not the first time Musk has floated the idea. He raised a similar concept in November, describing a solar powered AI satellite constellation that could make tiny adjustments to incoming sunlight to fine tune Earth’s temperature. Musk has also tied planetary risk to his broader vision at SpaceX, where his compensation package is explicitly linked to establishing a self-sustaining Mars colony, one he has described as an insurance policy against the kind of extinction event he referenced this weekend, and where he has said humans could set foot within five to seven years.









