Lifestyle
Tesla Roadster Sport comes out of retirement to race the Model 3 Performance
Some vehicles will forever hold a special place in people’s hearts. For the Tesla community, that car would be the original Roadster, a car that broke the mold of conventional electric vehicles when it was released. With the Roadster, Tesla proved that electric cars did not have to look and perform like glorified golf carts — they can be fast, sleek, and sexy too.
The original Roadster garnered a lot of awards during its time. On October 27, 2009, for one, the Tesla Roadster set a world distance record for production electric cars, traveling 501 km (311 miles) on a single charge. In March 2010, the sports car also became that first electric vehicle to win the Monte Carlo Alternative Energy Rally, with Formula One driver Erik Comas driving an Arctic White Roadster to dominate the three-day, 1,000-km (620-mile) event.
Tesla released the Roadster Sport in 2009, as a top trim for the electric sports car. In its review of the vehicle, Car and Driver noted that the Roadster Sport hit 60 mph in just 4 seconds, thanks to its powerful AC permanent-magnet synchronous electric motor that produces instant torque. With its 122 mph top speed, 288 bhp of power, and 295 lb-ft of torque, the Roadster Sport was capable of sucking the breath out of unassuming passengers.
Tesla only sold about 2,450 Roadsters during the vehicles’ entire run from 2008-2012. After the Roadster, Tesla focused its efforts on developing and refining the Model S sedan, a vehicle that could very well be the most important car of the decade. Following the Model S was the Model X SUV, and after that came the Model 3, the company’s first attempt at a mass-market car. Tesla passed through “production hell” with the Model 3, though the company was able to power through its difficulties this year. Elon Musk recently noted that Tesla is now at a point when it has no problem building 5,000 Model 3 a week — more than twice the number of original Roadsters the company produced over four years.
The Model 3 Performance is the top trim of Tesla’s latest vehicle. Being powered by larger and more energy-dense 2170 battery cells, the Model 3 Performance is Tesla’s first track capable car. Equipped with two electric motors that produce a combined 450 hp and 471 lb-ft of torque, the high-performance electric sedan has an impressive 0-60 mph time of 3.5 seconds (eventually updated to 3.3 seconds by Tesla), a top speed of 155 mph, and a range of 310 miles per charge.
In sheer specs alone, the Model 3 Performance — the most conservative among Tesla’s Performance-branded vehicles — outguns the original Roadster. As a video of a race between the two cars shows, though, the original Tesla Roadster is still incredibly quick despite its age. The race between Tesla’s past and present electric cars was held at the Atco Dragway in NJ, where two neophyte drivers christened the drag strip with the rather rare matchup.
Thanks to the raw power of its electric motor, as well as the reaction time of the Model 3 Performance’s driver, the Tesla Roadster Sport established an early lead during the bout. Midway through the quarter-mile, though, the Model 3 Performance started catching up. Both vehicles were neck-and-neck until the end of the race. The Model 3 Performance crossed the quarter-mile mark in 11.838 seconds at 114.02 mph, while the Tesla Roadster Sport completed the run in 12.959 seconds at 101.13 mph. Thus, despite getting the jump over the newer car off the line, the Roadster Sport ultimately bowed down to the Model 3 Performance by 0.6623 seconds.
Its loss to the Model 3 Performance aside, it’s difficult to not remain impressed by the Tesla Roadster Sport. The car, after all, is equipped with battery and powertrain technology that has since been improved by Tesla. Despite this, the vehicle was still able to perform the way Elon Musk wanted it to — as an electric sports car that can stand toe-to-toe with some of the best high-performance cars in the market.
Watch the original Tesla Roadster Sport battle the Model 3 Performance in the video below.
Lifestyle
Tesla hit by Iranian missile debris in Israel
A Tesla in Israel absorbed a direct hit from missile debris, and the glassroof held.
On March 30, 2026, Lara Shusterman was in Netanya, Israel when Iranian ballistic missiles triggered air raid sirens across the city. While she remained in safety, her 2024 Tesla Model Y did not escape untouched. A heavy piece of missile debris struck the car’s massive glass roof, leaving a deep crater but without shattering. In a Facebook post to the Tesla Israel community the following morning, Shusterman described what happened: “The glass did not shatter into dangerous shards. She stopped the damage and pushed the metal part to the ground.” She closed by thanking Elon Musk and the Tesla team for building what she called “security and a sense of trust even in extreme situations.”
Netanya is a coastal city in central Israel, roughly 18 miles north of Tel Aviv and has been among the areas most frequently struck during Iran’s ongoing missile campaign, following coordinated U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian military infrastructure. Falling shrapnel from intercepted missiles is a common occurrence.
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- Tesla Model Y glass roof shattered from a piece of falling Iranian missile debris
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- A piece of Iranian missile debris that struck Lara Shusterman’s Tesla Model Y in Netanya, Israel on March 30, 2026, after being intercepted by Israeli air defenses.
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- Tesla Model Y glass roof shattered from a piece of falling Iranian missile debris
Source: Tesla Israel Facebook Group
The incident is a testament to Tesla’s structural engineering. Tesla’s glass roof is designed to support over four times the vehicle’s own weight. That strength has shown up in real-world accidents too. In 2021, a Model Y in California was struck by a falling tree during a storm, with the glass roof holding firm and the cabin remaining intact. In another widely reported incident, a Tesla Model Y plunged 250 feet off the cliff at Devil’s Slide in California in January 2023, with all four occupants, including two young children, surviving.
Disturbing details about Tesla’s 250-foot cliff drop emerge amid initial investigation
Tesla officially launched sales in Israel in early 2021 and captured over 60 percent of Israel’s EV market in the first year. The brand’s foothold in Israel remains significant. Tens of thousands of Teslas are now on Israeli roads, making incidents like Shusterman’s easy to corroborate. On the same week her Model Y took the hit, the U.S. Space Force awarded SpaceX a $178.5 million contract to launch missile tracking satellites, a separate but fitting reminder of how intertwined the Musk ecosystem has become with the realities of modern conflict.
Elon Musk
NASA sends humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972 – Here’s what’s next
NASA’s Artemis II launched four astronauts toward the Moon on the first crewed lunar mission since 1972.
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket launches carrying the Orion spacecraft with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist on NASA’s Artemis II mission, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from Operations and Support Building II at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Artemis II mission will take Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back aboard SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft launched at 6:35pm EDT from Launch Complex 39B. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NASA launched four astronauts toward the Moon on April 1, 2026, marking the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in December 1972. The Artemis II mission lifted off from Kennedy Space Center aboard the Space Launch System rocket at 6:35 p.m. EDT, sending commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day journey around the far side of the Moon and back.
The mission does not include a lunar landing. It is a test flight designed to validate the Orion spacecraft’s life support systems, navigation, and communications in deep space with a crew aboard for the first time. If the crew reaches the planned distance of 252,000 miles from Earth, they will set a new record for the farthest any human has ever traveled, surpassing even the Apollo 13 distance record.
As Teslarati reported, SpaceX holds a central role in what comes next. The Starship Human Landing System is under contract to carry astronauts to the lunar surface for Artemis IV, now targeting 2028, after NASA restructured its mission sequence due to delays in Starship’s orbital refueling demonstration. Before any Moon landing happens, SpaceX must prove it can transfer propellant between two Starships in orbit, something no rocket program has done at this scale.
The last time humans left Earth’s orbit was 53 years ago. Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt of Apollo 17 were the final people to walk on the Moon, a record that stands to this day. Elon Musk has long argued that returning is not optional. “It’s been now almost half a century since humans were last on the Moon,” Musk said. “That’s too long, we need to get back there and have a permanent base on the Moon.”
The Artemis program involves 60 countries signed onto the Artemis Accords, and this mission sets several firsts beyond distance. Glover becomes the first person of color to travel beyond low Earth orbit, Koch the first woman, and Hansen the first non-American astronaut to reach the Moon’s vicinity. According to NASA’s live mission updates, the spacecraft’s solar arrays deployed successfully after liftoff and the crew completed a proximity operations demonstration within the first hours of flight.
Artemis II is step one. The Moon landing and the permanent lunar base come later. But after more than five decades, humans are heading back.
Elon Musk
Tesla Optimus Gen 3 is coming to the Tesla Diner with new ambitions
Tesla’s Optimus robot left the Hollywood Diner within months of opening. Now Musk is planning its return with a bigger role and a major Gen 3 upgrade underway.
![Tesla Optimus Gen 3 [Credit: Tesla]](https://www.teslarati.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/tesla-optimus-gen3-diner.jpg)
Tesla’s Optimus robot was one of the most talked-about features when the Tesla Diner opened on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood on July 21, 2025. Dubbed “Poptimus” by Tesla fans, the Gen 2 robot stood upstairs at the retro-futuristic, drive-in theater and Tesla Supercharging station, scooping popcorn into bags and handing them to guests with a wave.
The diner itself had been years in the making. Elon Musk first floated the idea in 2018 with a tweet about building an “old-school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant” at a Hollywood Supercharger. What eventually opened was a unique two-story neon-lit space, with 80 EV charging stalls, and Optimus serving as a live demonstration of where Tesla’s ambitions were headed.
If our retro-futuristic diner turns out well, which I think it will, @Tesla will establish these in major cities around the world, as well as at Supercharger sites on long distance routes.
An island of good food, good vibes & entertainment, all while Supercharging! https://t.co/zmbv6GfqKf
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2025
But Optimus did not stay long, and was gone by December 2025.
Now, the robot is set to return with a more demanding job. Musk has ambitions for Optimus to take on a food runner role in 2026, delivering meals directly to cars at the Supercharger stalls. While the latest Gen 3 Optimus is likely to initially take on its previous popcorn-serving role, it wouldn’t be out of the question for Optimus to see a quick promotion. With improved hand dexterity that features 50 total actuators and 22 degrees of freedom per hand, and significantly more powerful processing through Tesla’s latest AI5 chip that includes Grok-powered voice interaction, Musk described Optimus at the Abundance Summit on March 12, 2026, as “by far the most advanced robot in the world, Nothing’s even close.”
Back to work
See you at Tesla Diner tomorrow pic.twitter.com/H3tTajrUbu
— Tesla Optimus (@Tesla_Optimus) March 30, 2026
That confidence is backed by a major manufacturing shift. At the Q4 2025 earnings call in January, Musk announced Tesla would discontinue the Model S and Model X and convert those Fremont production lines to build Optimus. “It’s time to basically bring the Model S and X programs to an end,” he said, calling for a pivot that reflects where the Tesla’s future lies.
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