Pretty much the entire world is all agog, watching the new Tesla Roadster take flight.
To be clear, these stunts were performed by a specially prepped Roadster and without a driver. Tesla chief Elon Musk even went on to say that he was not sure that this would be legal.
But flight booster-aided model (Rocket) aside, Tesla is promising a regular 'Performance' Roadster with a ground effects fan, a la McMurtry, as well as a 'Thrust' version with air thrusters for acceleration and a claimed spine-crushing 0 to 100kph acceleration time of under 1 second.
Interestingly, this isn't the first time this idea has been thought of. Hollywood's Knight Rider had his Turbo Boost jump and Super Pursuit mode, but closer to the real world, carmaker Ferrari toyed with the idea of gas thrust boosters and even had a patent issued back in 2018.
While the Tesla Roadster is all-electric, the Italian carmaker's patent describes an internal combustion-powered car with an additional system comprising a compressed air tank and multiple horizontally as well as vertically oriented nozzles.
The patent says these can generate air jets for massively quick acceleration thrust, beyond what the engine and the limits of the tyres' grip would provide.
The vertically oriented pushers can also generate a downward force to enhance road grip and downforce, while the horizontal pushers can be deployed to increase steering turn-in ability. Interestingly, the patent says its system would also generate correctional forces; for example, if the car is losing grip, an opposing thrust can be generated to correct the car's line or even slow it down in extreme risk situations.
The patent also describes the use of the system on a motorcycle, Street Hawk style. Ferrari has clearly not put the system into production, and it's not known if the Italian car maker is pursuing its development. So it would be interesting to see if Ferrari would hold rights or a claim over the Tesla Roadster system and how the two car makers would respond.
Rishaad Mody
Avik Chattopadhyay
