My First-Hand Experience With The P85 Model S

I grew up like a lot of guys from my generation, being perfectly fine and "relevant" as long as I followed the rules of Shadetree Mechanic protocal.

Kinda sounds like a smart-ass thing to say, but the truth of the matter was that a lot of our dads and grandfathers thought, when we were growing-up, that a bicycle handle made for a decent shift linkage, or that it was cool to retrofit a beer keg into a gas tank for a sand rail.

That's what was in-vogue during our childhoods and throughout much of our teen years. A lot of us lived in a world where a Vega stuffed with a small-block was a "fast" car, and burnt fuel was a sign of muscle car "greatness."

But then things changed; we changed. I got my first taste of what GM could do with turbos on mouse motors when my neighbor in Northridge, a decent LA suburb, took me for a ride in his '91 GMC Syclone. That was in 2002 and I was 18 at the time. It was a thing of amazement to watch a small V-6 crank out that much power, but it also caused a bit of a cultural division.

Facts were facts: when it came to beer-and-pretzel time in my dad's garage, there were a lot of things that me and the old man could agree on, but then there were a lot of things that we couldn't.

I love Buick Grand Nationals; my dad simply sees them as Regals. I know for a fact that the Syclone was the fastest production pickup ever made by GM; my dad once told me that he would try to find me a "used Syclone" in the Antelope Valley if he could.

What a wild thing to say, and such insult to the General's turbo-6 legacy. A used Syclone?! Really?! It was like saying, "You know, your ex-girlfriend, Jenny McCarthy?!"

The cultural gap that grew between me and my family on so many levels was disturbing at best, and caused for much drunken shouting at worst. My parents loved me as I grew in the '90s, but that was mostly because the '90s was a decade in which I pretended that I was in the same time zone as them.

That's why we listened to Van Halen and drank Coronas at every lake trip we took, and it was also why backyard etiquette and suburban chivalry took throne over such principles as book knowledge and public television.

Public TV was for "nerds," and so was Barney the dinosaur. Likewise, no one would dare talking about building a Pinto with DC motors, let alone a Chevelle. Meat and potatoes, that's all it was, and if you were going to "run what 'ya brung" at LACR, then you better damn well have had something with gas and pistons. Because we used to get so excited by fossil fuels and moving parts when we were kids, watching Grandpa Munster as he drag raced a pro-streeted coffin down the tarmac.

But "Dragula" never had DC motors, neither did the Munsters' hot rod hearse. They used what we called back then, "V-8s," and legend had it that those giants of motors ran on alcohol and with blowers.

Back then, we also had sticks that we would put in our motors to make them sound neat; in those days, we referred to them as "camshafts," and they were said to improve motor muscle by opening the valves wider and faster. Once I had said that I could hear the "sound of horsepower," but then one of the elders had informed me that it was actually the sound of valve overlap, and that the "cool sound" that it made actually suffocated the engine's performance. How cool was that?!

But then there was a problem, or an inconsistency at least: along came the Internet and with it, YouTube. It was YouTube that revealed the world of DC performance to my eyes in full, and then I just got really mad!

Truthfully, the whole thing was downright silly; why should I be mad at my network of friends and family for not knowing that a DC electric was faster than an LS on 91-octane? That's ridiculous, it's not like our parents worked for the big oil industry. My dad never worked for General Motors. I, myself have never worked for GM, Ford or Chrysler; what did I have to be bitter about?!

Next thing I knew, it was 2013 and I was almost in my '30s. My mom fled to Reno, leaving my sister to raise my baby nephew, Gionni, who would be the first baby gearhead that I'd ever seen. Actually, Gionni was probably the only baby anybody had ever seen who liked to play with drums, smart devices and toy cars. What a combo!

But then along came a spider, and his name was Elon Musk, inventor of personal space travel and PayPal web shopping. One time he came up with an idea: let's build a really sweet car that runs on nothing except DC motors and lithium batteries.

That's where I come in. Topanga mall had opened a Tesla showroom near the Nordstrom's, and it became my very own, "Toys 'R Us."

The afternoon before this was published, I got to take a ride in a Tesla Model S P85. Fast? Nah, this thing was the Starspeeder 3000 made manifest. It wasn't about speed with the P85, but more like intergalactic transit.

In essence, the P85 version of the Model S is a personal-use version of the Hyperloop capsule, but with tires, wheels and axles. At the time of my test drive with Mitch Melassanos, I feared for the many Vettes, Ferraris and Lambos of the land, or Woodland Hills. Melassanos, who is an operations manager for The Los Angeles Fashion, had invited me and made it clear that he was ready to buy.

Hell, weren't we both at that point?! I loved Tesla, but after a quick Calabasas run in a P85, I fell deeply in love with Tesla Motors, and the fat new toy that they offered to the world.

Truthfully, the Model S is not like a car at all, but if you know anything about the Hyperloop's theory of air suspension, then yeah, just try to apply that to the car and that's basically what the thing does. The P85 does more than snap sideways when you stab its throttle; come to think of it, it "thrusts" forward far more than it "snaps." Once it does, it honestly feels like it wants to peel itself off of the ground and whisk through a low-pressure tube from LA to San Francisco.

Mitch Melassanos explains to Tesla Motors and myself that he has many friends who do aviation, and to them, the acceleration of Tesla's P85 is like an airplane, about as close as anyone can come in a passenger car.

But here's how you can differentiate between a luxury sedan and one built for performance: in a luxury sedan, you don't sweat cold beads and you don't get an earful of "guy grunt." But from the back seat of a Tesla P85, you sure do! In fact, all you need is some beef jerky and you're set!

That's because the P85 is the muscle car that you would've seen at the Star Tours' space port, while you waited in line with C3PO and R2, as R2 made a few adjustments to the Starspeeder before departure to Endor.

And as Melassanos stabs the P85's throttle, I can hear "Captain Rex" from the Starspeeder's cockpit shout for R2D2 to hit light speed, and this performance tweak is one that the Starspeeder and P85 apparently share in common.

Thanks again to Tesla Motors of Topanga, along with Mitch Melassanos. Without them, I would've never known what it was like to drive in a real Starspeeder 3000!

The "P85-R," Tesla Motors' Very First Muscle Sedan

Abstract:

To most turbo Regal enthusiasts, it's clear that Buick's "Grand National" was not really a performance upgrade as much as it was a trim package. It was the "T-Type" option that added to the G-Body Regal a Garrett turbocharger and other performance goodies. Where Grand National became the supreme trim upgrade for Buick's Regal, so the Model S-based, P85-R seeks to become the "Grand National" of Tesla.

Package Details:

Black-anodized side vents in place of the Model S' standard side markers

Rounded hood scoop

Exclusive "P85-R" badging

Performance:

Horsepower: 416bhp

Transmission: Direct-output

0-60: 4.2 seconds

1/4 mile: 12.42 @ 107.3mph

Top Speed: 130mph (Est.)

 

Elon Ultra: Opening The Doors For The Hyperloop And The Entire Grid

The proposed "Elon Ultra" monorail car is a vehicle that is not only choice for the Hyperloop, but indeed for the Tesla DC lineup, as it would be projected to become that transit platform for Tesla that would open the doors for other mass transit projects.

Elon Ultra would prove to be an ideal design for the Hyperloop because of its sloped front end, accommodating the turbine design that would provide the air barrier and suspension needed to maintain travel throughout the Hyperloop's enclosed system.

Not only this, but a turbine-stuffed monorail, as opposed to a capsule, would carry some 30-35 passengers, further expanding on Elon Musk's 840 passenger per hour quota.

On top of expanding upon this proposed quota, the Elon Ultra would expand on Walt Disney's proposed monorail system, one that was introduced at Disneyland as the "future transit rail" of Los Angeles during a time when cars were king, and satellites were just starting to beam into space.

Also, the vision behind Elon Ultra, because of its ability to accommodate a turbine while maintaining sleek aerodynamics, is that it would be a serious consideration for the city of Los Angeles as a substantial replacement for the San Fernando Valley's current "Orange Line," which, as is, stands as a rather primitive bus "liner" service.

At the very best, Elon Ultra would maximize the Hyperloop's performance and capacity, while opening for Tesla a market that allows for light rail and other localized forms of travel.

Hyperloop: How Can We Make The World's 5th Mode Of Transport Even Better?!

The fact that Elon Musk has conceived a high-speed transit system for the state of California is evidence that he is indeed a new breed of mastermind, not only for California, but indeed America, the land of milk and honey where innovation is destroyed long before it's ever celebrated.

That right there is the cruddy reality of our nation that ALL OF US have had to, at one point or another, learn to come to grips with. Once we have, however, things within our infrastructure really do start to take on a different appearance.

For this reason, Musk has made a proposition: why spend a projected $69-70 billion on an outdated rail that only tops-out at 116 miles per hour, when clearly the solution is to build something that's not a rail at all?!

So with the Hyperloop we eliminate a few factors that are sure to upset a few who are in Congress, but simultaneously it should bring a sigh of relief to the eskimos in Alaska, along with a few wealthy princes from Abu Dhabi.

Not that we're necessarily interested in helping-out a "few wealthy princes" from Dhabi, because God only knows that they have plenty of "help" from the massive, Ferrari theme park that they've built, but let's face it: no fossil fuels means no more punching holes into the earth.

On these key points, Elon Musk and I clearly agree with each other. However, we slightly disagree on one small factor, and that "factor" is not much more than vehicle type. To me, it doesn't seem like capsules are sufficient enough for a vacuum-based system that runs from downtown Los Angeles to San Francisco.

It's not that big of a deal; clearly Elon Musk is the "Walt Disney" of the 21st century and not myself. I simply feel that if we're going to build the Hyperloop, that we should make it as comfortable and user-friendly as possible.

In that spirit, I have outlined some sketches that I've found as free domain on the web. The passenger vehicle that is shown on this page is similar to what I envision being used on Elon's Hyperloop, and while "tube/cylinder development" is not my main focus, I have thrown-out some tube and electrical sketches anyway, just to offer a visual perspective of what I believe will ultimately become, the "Hyperloop..."

It seems as though a vehicle type like the one pictured above would provide, for the Hyperloop, a more comfortable riders' experience. The way that this is accomplished is by building vehicles that seat around 4-8 passengers, instead of 28 plus.

Elon Musk's "Hyperloop": The Cure For The Common Light Rail

It was only in 2003--just a few years back--that I felt like a white kid with a mullet upon a visit to Long Beach. In fact, many of my disabled friends from LA and myself would often go to King Taco on the corner of Long Beach and PCH, but there was something that that part of the city had that ours didn't at the time.

That "extra feature" was an electric train, something that Italian rednecks like myself had never before seen in the San Fernando Valley. Hell, come to think of it, there were a lot of things that we never got to see in the Valley, some of which included crossing gates.

This was a system that Long Beach's cable-fed "Blue Line" used, but then I was driven to ask a friend from South LA why our Valley suburb didn't have a rail system like that, but he assured me that it was undoubtedly in the Valley's future.

Well...some "future" our beloved San Fernando Valley had to look forward to: a half-assed "light rail" that was really just a two-lane roadway that had been retrofitted from a railroad track, one that ran along Victory during the War era. Back then it probably wasn't called, "Victory," but then the Valley has always been a tossed salad of industrial inconsistencies anyway, so who cares?!

The point that we care about for the sake of this discussion is America's "grid," the "infrastructure." With all sincerity intended, that "grid" is one that's simply silly. It's nonsensical to blow tax dollars on a hydrogen Hummer for Schwarzenegger, while gas continues to soar toward the 5-dollar-per-gallon mark.

It's nonsensical for In-Home Supportive Services to shell-out minimum wage toward a menial workforce, when clearly it's more cost-effective to make all efforts toward getting the developmentally-challenged up and working, and this is where the "Tesla touch" comes in to help bring public transit to a brand new plane of existence.

Elon Musk has just leaked a ground-breaking, mass transit model that will inevitably make super sonic travel into a near reality. It uses a strange breed of "space tech" like none that has ever been used in public transportation.

Now you'd say, "Sweet! But isn't that "kind of thing" only for the rich and eccentric? Yes, such is usually the case with such high-and-mighty forms of transport. The Musk vision, however, is one that sees a world where electromagnetic transport is something accessible to nearly anyone who wants it.

That seems to be the key to unlocking the door to Elon Musk and his electromagnetic know-how, and his DC motor technology is the kind that's going to benefit all of us.

Why? Because it would cost a tad over $6 billion dollars to build the "Hyperloop," a refreshing concept from Elon Musk that proposes to bring a new kind of high-speed rail to the West Coast. This, however, is not nearly as substantial as the proposed $69-70 billion that would be needed to build the Bay to LA train that the "Administration" wants to construct, one that would also eat up steel and other crude resources.

With the Hyperloop, on the other hand, the form of transit comes in the form of what Musk himself describes as a sort of "air hockey table," a reverse bear trap of magnetic poles and giant turbines. The turbines are the most important part of the Hyperloop, because they push and pull, while dropping the tunnel's overall air pressure. This, combined with magnetized mile marks for torque, make for an in-tunnel "flight" that's reminiscent of Star Tours.

What this boils-down to is that the Hyperloop is a transit system that uses simple technology that's more complicated then it sounds. What's not "simple" about using magnets and air pressure to propel a passenger craft?!

Elon Musk apparently agrees, and with the invention of Hyperloop transit, the electronics guru has strove to invent a new dimension of public transit. That's got to make you wonder then...

...Have we been doing things wrong this whole time? Aren't gas and oil the best solutions for essentially any type of vehicle? Nope! And whoever told you that "gas is good" probably spilled a little too much nail polish in their chocolate milk, because honestly, gas is booty!

Gas is a bunch of explosive crud that we dump into our cars to make them run, but let's face it: even if we hurt the natural realm a bit by making batteries, that process can not be as toxic as burning fossil fuels.

And I mean for real, how the frick do you expect someone on a fixed income to buy Amtrak tickets for $60-120 per head, if that's even what it costs now? It's cool, except that it's a diesel-generated passenger train that books 65-70 miles per hour, where Musk is proposing a capsule that books nearly the speed of sound. And this is with nothing but magnets and airflow, which makes me really feel stupid about the kind of transit we're accustomed to.

Some of Elon Musk's most recent concepts and endeavors have actually made me feel stupid about a lot of things, like using steam, diesel motors and other abracadabras of the motoring realm to get from LA to San Diego.

Why couldn't we have figured this all out years ago?! It's so easy to combine air force with electromagnets to create a sort of "wind tunnel," one that moves a vehicle along with minimal drag.

That's good news for all of the speed junkies in the world, but what really makes the deal is that Musk's proposed Hyperloop would offer a one-way rate of about $20. The idea in itself is wild, to say the very least, but again it's possible with a $6-7 billion construction cost.

Also, the fact that the system would consist of an above-ground tunnel that's pressure-controlled would make the project a far more organic build than California's proposed light rail, one that's been said to top out at less than 120 miles per hour, this being done in the same distance as Musk's proposed Hyperloop.

Will Hyperloop prove to be a system that actually works? Tell you what: try riding MTA from Warner Center to Northridge, even on a weekday schedule, and tell me if that works.

The truth of the matter is that it now costs $80 for a Metro monthly pass, where in 2004 it was about $50. It takes approximately 45-60 minutes to travel from Woodland Hills to the borderline that separates Northridge from Reseda, and anyone who knows the area well enough knows that this is really not that much of a stretch.

So do we want Hyperloop transportation to become part of our daily landscape? Right about now, it sure is looking a lot nicer than conventional railroad, for sure!

Tesla's First-Ever Passenger Van: The P85 And Flux Capacitor

When Chrysler perfected the mini van craft during the 1980s, they never created any kind of mandate saying that mini vans were vehicles built strictly for utility.

Truth be told, Dodge had even offered a turbocharger as a performance option on the earlier manifestations of the Caravan. It may not have been the most radical turbo motor ever built, but then that was a phase of the American auto scene where overall performance was not necessarily measured by outright horsepower.

Mini vans do much more than offer accessibility in a sporty package; they offer a glimpse into what could no doubt be the future of personal transport.

With the Odyssey, Honda has continued in that spirit of "futurama." For this reason, the proposed idea is that Tesla Motors join forces with Honda to develop a new breed of passenger vehicle.

Introducing Tesla's Capacitor van lineup, one like has never been tried before. That's because the Capacitor marque uses Tesla's very best in DC motor tech to bring cutting-edge performance and sustainability to the passenger van market.

With an option between the base "Flux Capacitor" and the performance-tuned, "P85 Capacitor," you get a driving experience at both ends. With the Flux Capacitor, you won't get the 4-second 0-60 snap of the P85-optioned van, but you're still guaranteed to do it in about 5.5, and with the P85 Capacitor, your van comes equipped with a servo-driven, all-wheel-drive platform that brings traction and handling to the passenger van platform.

Not only this, but Tesla's Flux and P85 Capacitor utilize the same integrated technology as Tesla Mobility's adapted crossover, which means that wheelchair accessibility delves once again into the smart realm.

Is the commuting world ready for Tesla's Capacitor van lineup? Put it to you this way: There's only one way to find out!

 

"Solar Mobility," And How It Serves Drivers With Special Needs

When Tesla announced an SUV as part of their electric vehicle lineup, the motoring community as a whole took notice. At least a few cornerstones were introduced with that SUV, a battery-powered creation that Tesla Motors calls their "Model X."

Among those "cornerstones" that come with the Model X are step-in seating and a set of mid-mounted, gullwing doors that make standing access in the crossover's cab possible, even for the tallest adult passengers.

But there's a twist: even with the truck-like wheelbase and substantial carrying capacity that Tesla's new crossover offers, it still doesn't fail to amaze at the performance end. In fact, sales representatives from Tesla's Topanga store in Woodland Hills, California have claimed that the Model X can even surpass the performance of Stuttgart's beloved, Porsche Cayenne turbo.

So what does this all mean to the physically-challenged commuter who relies on Access Paratransit, MTA and other mass transit outlets? It presents to that challenged commuter not only the opportunity to drive a vehicle that is practical, but one that balances this "practicality" with a sense of "bad-ass" that never before has been accessible to the disabled community.

Presenting Solar Mobility, a motoring program proposed to work in conjunction with Tesla and the San Fernando Valley's own, MobilityWorks, to bring electric motoring to the challenged enthusiast.

MobilityWorks has been serving the Valley's adapted motoring demands for several years at this point, and with the carrying capacity and structural rigidity that's offered with Tesla's Model X, it's easier now than ever to balance wheelchair accessibility and control, with Beamer-like performance and swag.

The "control" part, however, is really what becomes the most important part of Solar Mobility's services, because working with Permobil, the powerchair market's most premium manufacturer, Solar Mobility would become the first ever, accessible program to integrate the power wheelchair's console technology with the vehicle's electronics.

What this essentially means is that we would work in conjunction with Permobil and MobilityWorks, to develop hardware/software integration that allows the driver to not only dock the chair into the Model X's cab space, but using the best in commercial software and circuitry, the chair's joystick and console would actually be able to control and power the Tesla crossover.

Will Solar Mobility be the future for the physically-disabled commuter?! With the aid of some high-tech resources and a proper marketing team behind them, we sure hope so!

The Idea And Mission

Chevrolet's Vince Piggins, during the greater part of America's muscle car era, was far more than a product promoter; indeed he was one of the founding father's of the automaker's street and track performance legacy. Truthfully, Chevy's legendary COPO supercar program would have never been possible, were it not for the engineering and marketing savvy of Piggins and his tightly-knit network of Bowtie dealerships.

It wasn't a matter of "who's bigger" or "who makes the most money;" what inevitably set Chevy's COPO operation apart from every other performance movement of the era was that it was geared toward nothing but performance, and there was no increase or lack of funding from General Motors that could've diminished Piggins or his unique sense of muscle car "spirituality." That spirit made "COPO," big-block performance and development into a Chevy reality.

From the late 1970s all throughout that decade of style and outlandishness that was the '80s, Buick tried with a certain degree of passion to rise above their dull and boring reputation. Under the umbrella of all things GM, Buick in particular was notoriously known as the corporation's "family car" manufacturer, and so their "T-Type" campaign became the way that the automaker established for themselves a "sex appeal," one typically associated with the era's most exotic, European flagships.

"T-Type," along with Chevy's "Super Sport" and other GM performance insignia have become, at least for General Motors, gateways into a performance market for car companies that traditionally were associated with family and utility usage. What T-Type did for Buick, SVT also did for Ford and the Mustang nameplate, and each of these departments or programs left their inventors with a new sense of road and track dignity.

When Tesla Motors first introduced their Lotus Elise-based Roadster, it became clear to all of us that something radical had truly been crafted. Then with time we found that we were wrong even still; Tesla had not only invented the all-electric sports car, but they had perfected it. The electric Elise was Tesla's greatest automotive achievement, but in hindsight it's also a car that demanded further research and development.

Many electric vehicle enthusiasts may argue that Tesla Motors has established for itself a flagship car with their fast and nimble Roadster; on this point, however, we disagree. I don't feel that Tesla as a car company has even begun to develop a flagship vehicle, and this is where a new performance-oriented program comes in.

Introducing to the Tesla Motors Company a department and a lineup that brings high-performance for the future to the Tesla vehicle family. If Buick had "T-Type" and Ford the Special Vehicle Team, then where exactly does Tesla fit into the racing and street/road performance game? Like Buick, the answer lies in one letter only.

That letter is none other than "T," and that department that brings high-performance excellence to Tesla is none other than "Section T." Welcome to Section T, a motoring subdivision that brings a product to the Tesla vehicle family that no other formal motoring program can. Why? Simply for the fact that Section T will work with Formulec and others to work in accordance with Tesla's technological vision, rather than trying to obstruct it with high-octane fuels and noisy supercharger assemblies.

Here's the idea: we develop a high-performance program that does-away with all of the high-compression pistons, snow-capped racing cams and other moving assemblies typically associated with the performance craft and industry. How? Well the name does say it all, doesn't it? With Section T, we develop vehicles and products that revolve around racing while using the very best in Tesla's DC motor technology.

What does it mean for the competitive race car or the street-legal flagship sportster? Simple: using the bottom-end torque of Tesla's motor technology, we can build a flagship that reaches even closer to the 300 mile-per-hour barrier. Why is reaching a top speed of 300 miles per hour such a preoccupation for this department? Because trying to set that kind of a speed barrier as a tangible goal can actually help us to develop all-electric racing technology, while also helping to develop DC-based performance platforms that can be used for normal/everyday driving.

Why is it so important to build an EV that equals the road and track performance of a 458 Italia or a conventional F1? While we realize that Formula 1 racing is not exactly at the top of everyone's agenda, we also see the potential to develop electric running gears that are specific to the motor enthusiast market, while also making these systems sustainable for reliable, everyday usage. That's the mission behind France's Formulec and their "EF01" race car, and so Section T, proposed to be Tesla Motors' first ever race and performance nameplate, shares in that ground-breaking vision.

"XK-1," Tesla's Very First Flagship Model

Nobody likes to be a "copy-cat," but in the case of Tesla's very first flagship, we would do things a little differently. Instead, we combine the visions of Nikola Tesla and Carroll Shelby to bring to the table a new kind of supercar. Introducing to the Tesla family the all-new, "XK-1," a supercar classic that follows in the Tesla Roadster spirit by using DC motor know-how to improve on a pre-existing platform.

In the same way that Lotus' Elise served as the foundation for the Roadster, Koenigsegg's Agera R, possibly the fastest flagship on the globe, is Sweden's best, and so it will become the "suit" that is "worn" by Tesla Motors' very first supercar sensation. Exactly like our mission states, Tesla's XK-1 will soon prove the be the scariest thing on the supercar market.

Welcome to a new age of performance technology. Welcome to a world where it's actually "cool" to drive a smart car. Welcome to Tesla's "Section T," and welcome to the future...