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This is a reconstruction, not Tesla footage or recorded telemetry. The timing, dimensions, and vehicle mass are illustrative.
The demonstration
The October 15, 2026 McGregor reveal showed the car climbing an inverted ramp, returning to the ground, and performing a separate airborne roll over a lineup of vehicles (Tesla’s original broadcast; Top Gear’s on-site report).
Tesla described fan suction of up to twice the car’s weight, plus ten compressed-air nozzles fed by two pressure vessels with 600 liters of combined capacity and about 250 kg of air. These are manufacturer statements, not independently verified measurements (fan explanation; air-storage explanation).
Model assumptions
- Timing and layout: a compressed 36-second teaching sequence. The repositioning turn, distances, ramp radius and vehicle spacing are staged, not surveyed.
- Mass and gravity: a constant 2,000 kg illustrative vehicle mass and gravity of 9.81 m/s². The mass is not a claimed Roadster specification.
- Roll inertia: an assumed 850 kg·m² about the vehicle’s longitudinal axis. The separate roll-moment arc shows the idealized attitude-control couple; it is not an additional net translation force.
- Motion and forces: prescribed ramp/ground motion, ballistic coast segments, and idealized finite thrust burns. Forces are calculated from this motion using Newton’s second law.
- Simplifications: no aerodynamic drag, tank-pressure decay, changing mass, suspension dynamics, or detailed control-system simulation. Attitude-control pulses are illustrated, not solved nozzle-by-nozzle.
- Geometry: a reference-led approximation of the revealed body. The internal tank/fan arrangement and nozzle visuals are schematic, not disclosed CAD.
- Diagram: arrows show external forces on the car in a fixed world frame. Diagonal depth forces are projected into the diagram. Arrow lengths use a fixed scale with a display cap; numbers retain calculated magnitudes.
Read the forces
Fans create a pressure difference. Tire friction is limited by the contact load; at a static inverted hold, suction must exceed weight for the tires to remain pressed into the road (OpenStax: friction).
Thrust acts opposite to the ejected gas. An upward thrust larger than weight accelerates the car upward, which can either lift it or brake an existing fall (NASA: thrust equation).
An off-center force creates torque; torque changes angular velocity. Rotation and center-of-mass translation are separate parts of the motion (OpenStax: rotational dynamics).