Lifestyle
Tesla assists in Pikes Peak Model 3 race car 48-hr rebuild following crash
During the first day of Pikes Peak’s qualifiers, legendary racecar driver Randy Pobst and his Tesla Model 3 Ascension-R from EV tuning house Unplugged Performance dominated their class. The team was heading towards Sunday’s race at the top of their game, and there was little that could topple the modified Model 3’s momentum. Unless something unexpected and catastrophic took place, of course.
Unfortunately for the Unplugged team and Randy, something unexpected and catastrophic really did happen. During the Model 3’s first run on the second day of qualifiers, the modified Tesla hit a bad bump at speeds that the professional racer was unable to recover from. The Model 3 went off-course, hitting a wall and ending up in the dirt. Fortunately, Randy was uninjured during the accident. An in-car video of the crash even showed the veteran racer seemingly trying to get the car to respond, to no avail.
As noted by Unplugged Performance CEO Ben Schaffer, the damage to the Model 3 was extensive. Pretty much everything that could break in the car broke, from its motors to its suspension to its frame. In the immediate aftermath of the crash, it appeared that the team’s dream of raising the Tesla flag at the summit of Pikes Peak on Sunday has been crushed. After all, the Model 3 Ascension-R, described by Randy as one of the best vehicles he has ever driven up the treacherous mountain, was totaled.
But sometimes, it takes more than a totaled racecar to keep the human spirit down. In what could only be described as a decision that was equal parts impressive and insane, the Unplugged team decided to try and repair the Model 3. The officials of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb required that the team use the same vehicle that was involved in the crash, so the idea of using a fresh Model 3 Performance was quickly scrapped. What followed was an astounding effort that involved numerous Tesla community members, employees of the electric car maker, and EuroCar, an authorized Tesla body shop, all working together to do the seemingly impossible — resurrect a totaled racecar in 48 hours.
With but a couple of days before the actual Pikes Peak Hill Climb on Sunday, the Unplugged team and Tesla community members worked around the clock to revive the damaged Model 3 Ascension-R. The team bought another Model 3 Performance that could be stripped for fresh parts, which was promptly delivered by the head of Tesla Service in Colorado. Parts were ordered and shipped as quickly as possible. Three Tesla engineers even came over to ensure that the whole repair process went smoothly. The team worked tirelessly, transferring parts, repairing damaged sections, and tuning the revived Model 3 racer to make the vehicle worthy of taking on Pikes Peak in time for Sunday’s hill climb event.
“We will never quit. Performance is more than lap times, it is a will to persevere over all obstacles. A totaled car won’t be the ending of this story for Randy or for us. I told Randy we will move mountains and we did. Today we assembled an army of support, we bought a new car, and we are working 24hr shifts to use the new car to move parts over to the race car. Whatever it takes we will overcome. See you at the top with Randy waving the Tesla flag,” the Unplugged CEO noted.
It was a tall order considering the degree of damage on the Tesla Model 3 Ascension-R. But as the team worked tirelessly while being sustained partly by food sent over by other Tesla owners, something remarkable happened. Part by part, the damaged Model 3 started looking like a racecar again. With each repaired section, with each new part fitted onto the damaged vehicle, the Model 3 racer showed signs that perhaps, just perhaps, the dream of participating and thriving in one of motorsports’ most dangerous events in a consumer-grade electric sedan was not dead yet.
It was an inhuman push that needed a near-miraculous set of circumstances to succeed, but the Model 3 Ascension-R was reborn for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb by the start of the weekend. With the racer reborn, Randy and the Unplugged team now have another chance at taking on the extremely challenging, extremely dangerous Pikes Peak course. In a video on his YouTube channel, Randy Pobst has noted that life is “magnified” in racing, as it deals with exhilarating victories, heartbreaking losses, and inspiring comebacks. Pikes Peak has witnessed all of this over the years, and the Tesla community could only hope that on Sunday, Randy could finish the hill climb in impressive fashion and wave the Tesla flag at the top of the course.
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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Tesla hit by Iranian missile debris in Israel
