Strolling down the grass isles of the annual Sun Valley Silver Car Auction under a clear but cool sky, I scan over the sun-drenched decadent paint of classic car after classic car, tightly aligned like cereal boxes on a grocery store shelf.
A 1969 Chevy Camaro with a big-block 402-cubic-inch engine, 1932 Ford Hi-Boy hotrod painted Ferrari red and pushing out 400 horsepower, 1966 Pontiac GTO, 1969 black Corvette.
The nearly 200 classic cars, such as a long-bodied ivory 1963 Jaguar XKE, a series that Enzo Ferrari called "the most beautiful car ever made," would in any other circumstance catch my eye, causing me to linger. But I swiftly skim over the Jag's and other cars' exteriors.
What I'm looking for is not here.
I make my way to the white tent in the back where the cars are driven in, bid on and driven out to the hands of their new owners. The switch often happens in the matter of a minute.
Passing the tent, I see more classic cars in the narrow space between it and the trees in the back.
It has to be around here somewhere. There. A van parked on the cul-de-sac behind the trees. The word TESLA is written in tall, all capital, red letters on its side. It must be close.
I walk under the tree limbs, and almost bump into it. The all-electric 2010 TAG Heuer Tesla Roadster sports car capable of accelerating from zero to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds by way of an electric motor the size of a watermelon. It sits nestled beneath the needled boughs, a wall of tree trunks separating the Roadster from the preceding century.
Regional Sales Manager Troy Jones and the car—very similar in appearance to the Lotus Elise—are here for just the weekend, offering about 40 test drives to prospective buyers who are considering shelling out $101,500 after a $7,500 tax deduction. Sun Valley is just one stop on the Roadster's summer tour commemorating TAG Heuer's 150th anniversary. It'll be in Los Angeles, Scottsdale, Ariz, and other North American cities in an effort to attract buyers, as well as in Europe.
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Jones says about 1,300 Roadsters have been bought in more than 28 countries, with June breaking the record for U.S. monthly sales. July then broke that record. He says each month saw about 50 sales.
I squeeze into the driver's seat after providing some personal information and signing on the dotted line. The usual interior, pedals and gauge cluster greet me as Jones hands me the key. I insert it and turn, hearing only the welcoming sound a computer makes when it starts. Jones explains the gauges. Speed is obviously the same but the usual RPM gauge is kilowatt-hours use.
I press the D button on the center console, press the pedal and wind my way around the cul-de-sac, heading to Elkhorn Road.
"I tell everyone it's illegal to speed," Jones said earlier. "But it's not illegal to accel."
And "acceling" is where the Roadster really shines. Having an electric 288-horsepower motor with only one gear, the Roadster provides its maximum 273 foot-pounds of torque all the time. An internal-combustion engine, on the other hand, must be revved up to, say, 6,000 RPMs before maximum torque is reached. Slam on the gas pedal—or should I say electricity pedal—and the acceleration is immediate, all the time. No lag.
I test the science, but can't claim I stick to Jone' guidelines of keeping it under the speed limit. Whether at a stop or already travelling at 30 mph, the being-pulled-back-into-your-seat feeling as I push the pedal is consistent.
The oddest part of having such acceleration is that the concurrent racing of the engine is absent. There's only the sound of the wind and the low-pitched hum of the electric engine, sounding like a spaceship from Star Wars or Batman's motorcycle from the 2008 movie "The Dark Knight." In fact, the Roadster's engine noise was recorded for Batman's motorcycle in the movie.
The Roadster has an electrically limited top speed of 125 mph, with the battery lasting a distance of 245 miles if driven conservatively and not pushed to the limit. It's the same as with internal combustion—the harder it's driven, the worse the efficiency. The lithium-ion battery has 6,831 individual cells and takes 3.5 hours to charge from empty to full using the Tesla home connector at 240 volts and 70 amps.
I drive out Elkhorn Road, turn around and head back to the car auction. After thanking Jones and crossing "driving a $100,000 sports car" off my bucket list, I pass through the trees once more. I still need to check out that ivory 1963 Jaguar XKE.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
Idaho Mountain Express reporter Trevon Milliard test drives the all-electric Tesla Roadster on Sept. 5. Sitting next to him is Tesla Regional Sales Manager Troy Jones. Photo by Willy Cook
