I thought it might be fun to have a thread about how the Roadster saved your butt. Dragon just posted a good one.
Here's my close call from yesterday...
I was in Kingston, Ontario for the unveiling of the city's first charge point. Ricardo also brought his Leaf from Ottawa, and at 150 km it's a stretch even with a full charge. He headed off first and I stayed behind for some lunch. He was keeping it to 70 kph, which is 10 kph below the speed limit. He stayed off the main highways so the traffic wasn't too bad.
Meanwhile I finished my lunch and headed off. Normally I would have had to drive at 85 kph in Range Mode to do the round trip, but this time I had been able to top-up the charge on the new station. So I blasted off in Normal mode at my regular speeds. I also took the lesser highway, because it's twisty and more fun, and gets you there just as fast (20 km shorter).
An hour and a half later I'm approaching Ottawa, and I come up on a truck. I have a peek around and nothing is coming, so I start passing. Just as I clear the back I see his turn blinker come on - he's about to pass someone. Oh Crap!!! I bet he didn't check his mirror.
So I floor it, and the Roadster bolts forwards. As I spit out in front of the truck, I can see he's on the tail of... Ricardo's Leaf! By now I'm going 120 and he's still going 70. I look in my mirror in time to see the truck swing in front of him. Good thing I hit the GO pedal!
Ricardo said later that all he saw was a blur that red-shifted as it passed him. We had a good laugh about it. Could have been a bad day, though, except for the Roadster's awesome acceleration!
Here's my close call from yesterday...
I was in Kingston, Ontario for the unveiling of the city's first charge point. Ricardo also brought his Leaf from Ottawa, and at 150 km it's a stretch even with a full charge. He headed off first and I stayed behind for some lunch. He was keeping it to 70 kph, which is 10 kph below the speed limit. He stayed off the main highways so the traffic wasn't too bad.
Meanwhile I finished my lunch and headed off. Normally I would have had to drive at 85 kph in Range Mode to do the round trip, but this time I had been able to top-up the charge on the new station. So I blasted off in Normal mode at my regular speeds. I also took the lesser highway, because it's twisty and more fun, and gets you there just as fast (20 km shorter).
An hour and a half later I'm approaching Ottawa, and I come up on a truck. I have a peek around and nothing is coming, so I start passing. Just as I clear the back I see his turn blinker come on - he's about to pass someone. Oh Crap!!! I bet he didn't check his mirror.
So I floor it, and the Roadster bolts forwards. As I spit out in front of the truck, I can see he's on the tail of... Ricardo's Leaf! By now I'm going 120 and he's still going 70. I look in my mirror in time to see the truck swing in front of him. Good thing I hit the GO pedal!
Ricardo said later that all he saw was a blur that red-shifted as it passed him. We had a good laugh about it. Could have been a bad day, though, except for the Roadster's awesome acceleration!
