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Aston Martin CEO says Ludicrous mode is stupid

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Pete90D

Fan of Red Lights
Jul 25, 2015
478
4
Bay Area, CA
Here's the article
Aston Martin CEO Calls Out Tesla's Ludicrous Mode and Dismisses it as "Stupid" - autoevolution

Eh. It will be interesting to see what they can come up with. It isn't like L-mode is like nitrous and you only get X seconds of fun and you're done, or that the car can't corner. I also like the ability to turn on and off the performance of the car. If their car is going to have 800hp, then they are just saying "normal" is L-mode... maybe Tesla should have "Normal" and "Turtle-mode".

The CEO also threw out $200k-$250k for a sedan, and given Aston Martin's service costs being as high as they are, it wouldn't surprise me if they tried to squeeze more out of it by requiring regular "service".
 
He does have have a point that, "the fact that you could drive a few laps of a decent race course or race it around the Nordschleife [famed track in Germany] is much more interesting than doing 500 meters in Ludicrous mode." The "more interesting" part is a matter of opinion, but so far if you try to do any track racing with the Model S, power is quickly limited due to thermal issues. It will be exciting if/when Tesla overcomes that hurdle.
 
He does have have a point that, "the fact that you could drive a few laps of a decent race course or race it around the Nordschleife [famed track in Germany] is much more interesting than doing 500 meters in Ludicrous mode." The "more interesting" part is a matter of opinion, but so far if you try to do any track racing with the Model S, power is quickly limited due to thermal issues. It will be exciting if/when Tesla overcomes that hurdle.

I disagree. I've never ever taken a car to a track. I've very many times used their maximum acceleration. To me, being able to drive it on a track is far less interesting than its everyday performance. I think the typical Aston Martin customer is roughly the same. Some of them will want to track their cars; most won't.
 
He does have have a point that, "the fact that you could drive a few laps of a decent race course or race it around the Nordschleife [famed track in Germany] is much more interesting than doing 500 meters in Ludicrous mode." The "more interesting" part is a matter of opinion, but so far if you try to do any track racing with the Model S, power is quickly limited due to thermal issues. It will be exciting if/when Tesla overcomes that hurdle.

If they are building an 800hp car they are probably going to have some thermal issues as well. I agree that driving around a track is more fun than driving in a straight line, but I can do one more frequently than the other. I also thought that the Model S could do a few laps, which is what he says, is that not true?
 
He does have have a point that, "the fact that you could drive a few laps of a decent race course or race it around the Nordschleife [famed track in Germany] is much more interesting than doing 500 meters in Ludicrous mode." The "more interesting" part is a matter of opinion, but so far if you try to do any track racing with the Model S, power is quickly limited due to thermal issues. It will be exciting if/when Tesla overcomes that hurdle.

I don't know about it being more interesting, but I can guess which would be done more often.
 
He does have have a point that, "the fact that you could drive a few laps of a decent race course or race it around the Nordschleife [famed track in Germany] is much more interesting than doing 500 meters in Ludicrous mode." The "more interesting" part is a matter of opinion, but so far if you try to do any track racing with the Model S, power is quickly limited due to thermal issues. It will be exciting if/when Tesla overcomes that hurdle.


Ya because Model S owners in the U.S. are going to drive the Nordschleife on their commute to work lol


The track is nothing but a waste of gas and rubber. I've been to the track once and it was nothing special. Driving the track in video games is boring too. Driving along highways, backroads and city's is way more fun and is the actuality of real driving.


The track is merely fictitious.
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And Ludicrous mode is stupid... STUPID FAST!!!!
 
Currently Tesla makes a high performance, luxury all electric sedan, tuned for the street.

It provides world class acceleration capabilities, but because it is powered by batteries it is not as competitive on long road racing courses.

Maybe in the future Tesla, or the aftermarket will provide an extreme performance cooling package that will address the cooling needs of people wishing to take it to the track, however at this time that tiny market niche is not well served.

Even stock Aston Martins do not do well at racing venues. They are too heavy and would overheat their engines, differentials and brakes in a competitive venue. Their racing cars are so heavily modified that they are no longer street legal and can only be driven by experienced and licensed professionals. Sounds much like the pot calling the kettle black. Their cars, like the Tesla offer limp home mode, so that when their motors overheat the reduce power to avoid damage.
 
I disagree. I've never ever taken a car to a track. I've very many times used their maximum acceleration. To me, being able to drive it on a track is far less interesting than its everyday performance. I think the typical Aston Martin customer is roughly the same. Some of them will want to track their cars; most won't.

I don't know if I'd call Ludicrous-mode launches he was referring to "everyday performance", but perhaps. Anyway, I think all that was implied was that they don't plan to employ any gimmicks to enable a faster drive mode, and that they will likely have adequate cooling to handle a track day. Tesla has seen substantial PR benefit from the former so it makes perfect sense why they did it (and they're in good company here: most exotics have similar settings, albeit with less-alluring names), and the latter they've been improving since launch. The two approaches will likely converge.

The track is nothing but a waste of gas and rubber. I've been to the track once and it was nothing special. Driving the track in video games is boring too. Driving along highways, backroads and city's is way more fun and is the actuality of real driving.

Probably depends somewhat on how you drive on the street. Certainly you can't legally get close to the limits of the Model S on public roadways. If you treat public streets like a race track, then I can maybe see coming away unimpressed from a track day. Maybe. And that's only if you don't get a ride from someone who knows what they're doing behind the wheel. I once had a ride in a successful SCCA driver's personal VW GTI that boggled my mind. Either way, "real" driving is going to mean different things to different people. I enjoy a nice leisurely cruise through the country, but you don't really need an 800hp EV for that.
 
Ludicrous mode is ludicrous, not stupid. ;-)

Seriously though, I honestly believe current (2015) battery technology can not support a large electric family sedan with significant (> 200 mile) range that's also long-term track-capable or Tesla would have delivered it. If you're willing to give up a lot of cargo space, cut the size and weight of the chassis/body and size of the battery while simultaneously beefing up the battery cooling apparatus, I'm sure you could produce a track-capable car (next-gen Roadster?), but it would probably not be anywhere near as capable as the Model S across other, frankly more important categories for a full-size family sedan (e.g. range, cargo space, comfort).

Instead, Tesla went for the performance metric that it can easily optimize on a sedan without compromise. For current electric cars that's low-speed acceleration (i.e. 0-60). The fact that the Aston CEO is critical of a competitor's product is par for the course, but I would recommend that he deliver a capable electric car before spouting his mouth off about the apparent compromises that Tesla made.
 
I would argue that if you compare an EV seating 5/7, with a real world range of 230 miles and a 0-60 time below 3 seconds, that however overheats quickly when racing for extended periods of time on a race track with nothing, the aforementioned car takes the victory.
 
I read it slightly differently

"Aston Martin CEO sees automotive upstart Tesla as their primary competition, and are using the Model S as a reference point to justify manufacturing an EV that will likely be twice the price (ludicrous?) and primaily is being used as a means to meet legislation controlling Manufacturers overall emissions of ICE vehicles"

Another notch to Elon then :)
 
I honestly can't see Aston making a BEV Rapide.

The Tesla is good, however the interior has clearly been built to a "weight budget". Aston will simply have to go PHEV if they want to continue making the interior as luxurious, well screwed together and with so many toys, while still keeping the overall weight under control. Maybe with some yet unavailable battery tech, but not with current gen.

As for taking either on a track, weight not thermal issues is the killer for both cars. If you want to go to the track (or indeed a narrow UK back roads for that matter).

From a value for money point of view I have to say an S85D as a daily driver + a Miata would trump Ludicrous personally. Horses for courses I suppose.
 
Ya because Model S owners in the U.S. are going to drive the Nordschleife on their commute to work lol


The track is nothing but a waste of gas and rubber. I've been to the track once and it was nothing special. Driving the track in video games is boring too. Driving along highways, backroads and city's is way more fun and is the actuality of real driving.

If you have only been to the track once, try it again! :)

There is NOTHING quite like carving up a good technical track with something like a GT3. And, it's way more fun than anything on a real road. And, plus, you'll probably never get to 8/10 or 9/10 on a road or highway. Getting a car up to its grip limit is way cool. :)