Lifestyle
Racing legend talks Teslas, EVs, and making history in America’s deadliest track
Last August, legendary racecar driver Randy “The Rocket” Pobst, arguably one of the most respected racers in the industry, took his battered Unplugged Tesla Model 3 Performance up Pikes Peak just a few days after crashing spectacularly at the Bottomless Pit. Pobst finished second place at the event’s Exhibition Class, just behind another Model 3 Performance driven by fellow racer Blake Fuller. It was a victory of sorts considering that the Unplugged Model 3 completed the Pikes Peak climb with a bent frame and throttled power due to battery issues. Finishing the race was a feat in itself, But for The Rocket, it was not enough.
A Sub-10-Minute Climb
Pobst and the Unplugged Performance team are looking to return to Pikes Peak this year, and this time, the veteran racer and the Tesla tuners are determined to accomplish the goal that they were not able to reach last year. This time around, Pobst is aiming to achieve a sub-10-minute run up the treacherous hill. In a conversation with Teslarati, Pobst and Unplugged Performance CEO Ben Schaffer shared some of their plans and hopes for this year’s Pikes Peak attempt and why a Tesla is perfect for such competitive events.
When asked why he is returning to Pikes Peak this year in another Tesla, Pobst explained that electric cars are actually a perfect fit for the dangerous race. Being some of the best EVs in the market today, Teslas are amazingly-suited for Pikes Peak, especially considering that the vehicles’ electric motors provide tons of torque instantly. In a statement, the legendary racer explained why a 10-minute run would be just right for electric cars’ characteristics.
“This event is such an incredible thrill and challenge, and it just happens to be very well-suited to a Tesla and electric power in general. There are three reasons why: one, the flow of electrons is unaffected by the 14K high-altitude lack of oxygen; two, the short 10-minute hill climb is well-suited to current battery technology at full power; and three, the strong low-speed torque, instant response, and no need to shift are all ideal for the 160 turns up that mountain road, especially the many switchbacks,” Pobst said.
During his attempt last year, Pobst remarked that his race-tuned Unplugged Model 3 Performance was among the best cars that he has ever driven. Thanks to its all-electric design and the Tesla tuner’s refinements, the professional racer noted that the vehicle just hugged the road at high speeds. This was proven by the fact that Pobst was actually among the fastest in the entire field prior to his crash, with the humble Model 3 finishing ahead of formidable vehicles like race-spec Porsches.
Another Chance At Making History
For now, neither Pobst nor Schaffer have revealed if they would be attempting the 2021 Pikes Peak hill climb in another Unplugged Tesla Model 3 Performance. When asked about this, the Unplugged CEO stated that the details for Randy Pobst’s racecar this year are still being determined. Schaffer did mention that Unplugged is working on some exciting projects for the Model S Plaid and Model S Plaid+, both for street and motorsports use.
If Pobst and the Unplugged Performance team return to Pikes Peak this year with another Model 3 Performance, however, the racecar driver could very well complete what he set out to do last year and perhaps win the Exhibition Class outright in the process. As Pobst stated himself, the Model 3 Performance is a very fast car, and when it’s tuned for racing, it is a frightening beast of a machine that has the potential to perform close to or at the levels of bespoke racers explicitly created for Pikes Peak. With last year’s experience in tow, Pobst and the Tesla tuner could very well make history this time around.
But this is still just the beginning for Tesla and its future in motorsports. Sharing his thoughts further, Schaffer stated that he hopes to eventually bring the next-gen Tesla Roadster to the treacherous hill climb when the vehicle is released. And with the Model S Plaid and Model S Plaid+ coming this year, the opportunities that exist for dedicated EV tuners and racers are only getting bigger.
“Our goal since 2013 has remained consistent. Unplugged Performance exists to show car enthusiasts around the world how exciting it can be to drive a Tesla. This furthers the Tesla mission and has been our contribution since 2013 as Tesla’s neighbors and friends. Events like this—TeslaCorsa, our Nürburgring activities—and also our street tuning upgrades all are designed to tell that story and to turn petrolheads into EVHeads,” Schaffer said.
Randy Pobst, for his part, is all for this plan. “I’m in!” he responded excitedly to Schaffer’s plans, suggesting that his Pikes Peak attempts in a Tesla are probably only just beginning. In jest, Pobst also suggested that EV advocates and enthusiasts should probably start calling themselves “AMPheads” soon. The electric car movement, after all, is proliferating, and it is only a matter of time before EVs are recognized for being the preferred vehicles in both regular use and in racing. And when that happens, the community of AMPheads, as Randy Pobst has stated, would likely be incredibly vast.
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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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