News
Tesla adds “Cheetah Stance” Launch Mode for acceleration boost
Just a few days ago, Tesla updated its online configurator for the Raven Model S and Model X Performance to reflect the flagship vehicles’ improved acceleration figures. While already blazingly-quick, the Raven Model S Performance’s 0-60 mph time was reduced to 2.3 seconds, while the Raven Model X was improved to just 2.6 seconds.
It appears that existing owners of the Raven Model S and Model X Performance are set to receive the acceleration boost update as well. A recent post from Tesla owner and noted YouTube tech reviewer Marques Brownlee revealed that faster acceleration is not all that Model S owners will be receiving. More endurance for back to back full power launches are also included in the over-the-air update, on top of the vehicle’s new “Cheetah Stance” Launch Mode.
Rule #1 is never buy a product based on promised software updates but wow I'll take it. Thanks @Tesla 🤓 pic.twitter.com/QXKvB0Qaen
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) April 23, 2020
Just like other updates such as Sentry Mode, the acceleration and endurance boost to the Raven Model S and Model X Performance is a free upgrade. As per tests by veteran drag racer and longtime Tesla owner Brooks Weisblat, the Cheetah Stance Launch Mode update adds about 46 horsepower to the Model S. Such an upgrade is no joke, and the fact that it’s free makes it even better.
Following is Tesla’s message about the new Model S Performance’s acceleration and endurance boost.
Update available—Your Model S Performance just got quicker
You asked for it. With our latest over-the-air software update to Model S Performance, we improved 0-60 acceleration to 2.3 seconds and quarter-mile time to 10.4 seconds. Go for more back-to-back runs with improved thermal endurance, and activate Launch Mode with a press of the pedals. Launch Mode’s new Cheetah Stance lowers the front axle and adjusts damping before entry for better traction and faster acceleration off the line.
You’ll automatically receive this update based on your location and vehicle configuration—you can’t request the update. Connect to Wi-Fi or a mobile hotspot to download and install quicker.
Bro the performance update happened to my pre raven p100d via over the air update. 0-60 in 2.6 seconds. pic.twitter.com/h801SK2L6v
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) April 23, 2020
With this recent update, the Raven Model S can now give the Porsche Taycan Turbo S an even more intense battle in the quarter mile. Few legitimate drag races between the two high-performance electric cars have been done to date, though the Taycan has an advantage in higher speeds due to its two-speed gearbox. With its recent Cheetah Stance update and acceleration boost, the Raven Tesla Model S Performance becomes a much more formidable vehicle in the quarter mile. The same goes for the Model X Performance.
What’s even more exciting is the fact that these improvements are just being rolled out to the Raven Model S and Model X Performance. Tesla has an even more formidable flagship vehicles in store in the form of the Plaid Model S and X. That vehicles will be frighteningly fast, with the Plaid Model S’ track capabilities are honed in the Nurburgring. Granted, the Plaid Model S will cost more compared to the Raven Model S Performance, but it will likely still undercut rivals such as the Taycan Turbo S, which starts at about $180,000 before options.
Elon Musk
How to use Grok Bot to block spam calls and texts
Musk told users to ask Grok Bot to scrub their phone numbers from spam lists.
Elon Musk has a new use case for Grok Bot, and it is the spam call. On Thursday he replied to an X user named Arash with a short instruction: “Ask your @Grok @Bot to remove your phone number from spam call & text lists!” Arash had said he got tired of the calls, had an AI bot find his number on listing sites and file removal requests, and packaged the process as a free skill for others.
The skill is called Spam-Call Scrubber, which is described to find a phone number on people search sites and data brokers, submits the opt outs, completes the confirmation emails those sites send back, and rechecks on a schedule the user picks. Using it requires the Grok Bot app. The pitch is time saved, since most broker opt outs sit behind separate forms on separate sites.
Ask your @Grok @Bot to remove your phone number from spam call & text lists!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2026
Musk said Grok Bot now gives each bot its own email address, and that it can detect scam emails. On Thursday he also said SpaceX would make users whole if the bot botches a purchase or leaks a card, then told users to shop away from Amazon after the retailer blocked the agent, as Teslarati reported. The terms of service we reviewed at the time put responsibility for what an agent does on the user.
For Tesla owners, Grok Bot is not just a phone app. Tesla brought Grok Bot into its vehicles on September 22, and we argued earlier this week that the Cybercab’s real advantage may be the errands it runs during a ride. Every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y Robotaxi fleet has it enabled. The more routine tasks like this one become, the more a rider has reason to hand over something personal in the back seat.
The new Spam-Call Scrubber skill can be downloaded for free and works on sites that honor removal requests, while noting that listings can reappear, and illegal robocallers do not check any registry. Whether Spam-Call Scrubber cuts anyone’s call volume is something the first wave of users will find out, and Musk’s endorsement guarantees that wave is coming.
Investor's Corner
Tesla’s flying Roadster just revealed something bigger than the car
Analysts say the Roadster demo puts a Tesla and SpaceX merger back on the table.
The Roadster unveiling near Waco ended Thursday night, and by Friday morning much of the investor reaction had less to do with the car than with who owns the rocket technology inside it.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said the event “puts the Tesla/SpaceX relationship on the table in a tangible way,” pointing to the propulsion, pressure vessel and control hardware sitting on a Tesla product. Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management called the demo “a ridiculous display of engineering” with “no commercial value” beyond embarrassing traditional automakers, though he said it showed Musk wants the two companies together.
The more specific forecast came a day earlier from Barclays. Analyst Dan Levy told clients a deal could be announced before Tesla’s annual meeting, which must happen by December 6, and that an announcement in late October or early November could make shareholder approval harder. Barclays expects SpaceX to be the buyer in an all stock deal, with Tesla holders receiving SpaceX shares at a premium, based on market values of roughly $2.1 trillion for SpaceX and $1.5 trillion for Tesla. If nothing lands around the meeting, the bank still sees an announcement within 6 to 12 months.
The Roadster demo just added more weight to merger speculations. Tesla’s demo used cold gas thrusters and pressure tanks of the kind SpaceX uses on Falcon 9, and Musk described the car as a collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX engineers, as we mentioned in our breakdown of the three Roadster configurations.
Musk has not publicly addressed a deal since the event, as far as we have seen. His most direct answer remains the one he gave at the All In Summit, when he said that with so much collaboration, “who can imagine what action one might take” without ruling anything out. Ives has held to a 2027 timeline since his March note, and Musk pushed back on the China piece of the speculation when ARK floated a year end announcement in August.
The next test is Tesla’s third quarter earnings call on October 21. However, we recall in July that Musk told analysts, “we can’t talk about combining companies and that kind of thing on an earnings call,” so a clear answer wouldn’t be expected.
News
How Tesla’s Roadster fan system and thrusters are built to dominate the corners
Tesla’s Roadster uses fans, active wings and cold gas thrusters to create grip at any speed.
Tesla’s new Roadster is best known for flipping through the air in Texas, but the technology that matters most for a race track is the stuff that keeps it on the ground. Tesla’s Roadster page describes a multi-mode fan and ground sealing system that acts as a downforce generator, pulling air out from beneath the car. Tesla says it provides enough suction to hold the vehicle upside down, even when stationary.
That is the key difference from the wings and diffusers on a normal supercar. Conventional aero only makes downforce when the car is moving, and it grows with speed, so a car has the least grip in the slow corners and under hard braking. A fan system makes downforce at any speed. Tesla’s patent, which we covered last year, describes fans and deployable skirts that create sealed or partially sealed regions under the car, with the fans extracting air to lower the pressure and increase grip and stability.
Still processing this … the most unreal thing I’ve seen. https://t.co/HtEuvnkZjY
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 16, 2026
Tesla pairs that with active wings, a next generation steer by wire system and a Track Mode that lowers the car and changes the suspension, with high downforce and low drag settings for the circuit. To keep weight down, Tesla points to magnesium, titanium and carbon fiber, manual controls and a fixed seat position, which it says lets the car respond to driver inputs almost instantly.
Tesla Roadster: Three configs, one can fly, 0-60 in 0.8 seconds
The cold gas thrusters are the other half. On the Thrust version they sit at the rear and Tesla says they take the car from 0 to 60 mph in under 0.9 seconds, while the Rocket version adds perimeter thrusters for forward, upward and lateral rotational movement. Tesla says the all electric actuators make micro adjustments within a fraction of a second.
Roadster transforms in Track Mode
These aero features aren’t just for looks: they provide the best passive downforce package of any road car (approaching F1 levels!) with wing actuation driven by the @Tesla_Optimus actuator system https://t.co/AqrC4qUga9
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 16, 2026
Musk has been talking about records for years. In June 2019 he said, “We’re going to do things with the new Roadster that are kind of unfair to other cars.” That September, when a follower asked whether the Roadster would beat the Nürburgring production car record, he replied with one word, “Absolutely,” as we reported at the time. In February 2024 he said Tesla had “radically increased the design goals” for the car and that its sub one second 0 to 60 time would be “the least interesting part.”
There are caveats. Tesla has not published a lap time or a verified cornering figure, so the record talk is still a promise rather than a result. Tesla also says the car is not approved for public road use, and the thruster features are limited to the Rocket trim, which is invite only. Fan cars have also been banned or withdrawn before, and getting a sealed underbody to work on a rough public road is a harder problem than on a smooth track. The first real test will be an official lap at a circuit.