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A comparison (by a semi-regular person who drove an Elise and had the Tesla on order) I read said the Tesla may be slower than the Elise, but in an autocross situation it handled better - the weight tamed the Elise's bad tendencies a bit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wilsonp (Post 662710)

That’s funny the comparison (Road & Track - 06/2010) I read showed the Elise being a good bit faster in autocross. The Tesla is only quicker from a stop due to the 295ft-lb To@ Zero RPM'S. It's silly how they try to make it seem as though the Tesla is as quick as a Porsche 911 Turbo based solely on its 0-60 time. They purposely neglect to state what happens after 60mph in an effort to overly glorify the car. Oh and the Telsa was wearing R-Compounds during the test while the Elise was wearing just regular street tires. But they did mention that if the Elise was wearing R-Compounds as well the advantage would have been devastating. Not to mention the Telsa sells for $128,500 compared to the Elise SC @ just 55k. You can buy the Elise SC and a BMW E92M3 and still have 13-14k left over.

Doesn't seem that different to me? R&T, 4/2010:

Quote:

Yet the times are remarkably close. After five runs in each car, and then another two in each (to minimize the learning curve effect of both the cars and course), the best time differed by just 0.26 sec. (Lotus, 30.54; Tesla, 30.80) with the average times for each car being 31.18 and 31.45 sec., respectively.

While they acknowledge the tire difference, they don't seem to think it's insurmountable:

Quote:

Had the course been a little more open, the Tesla’s spectacular point-and-squirt acceleration likely would’ve given it the win. Yet this is far from an apples-to-apples comparison, as SCCA’s rules allow for an R-compound tire on the Elise SC, and the rule of thumb for these stickies over ultra-high-performance street tires is roughly a 1-sec. gain for every 30 sec. of autocross course. So with comparable tires, the Lotus’s advantage would’ve been greater. Still, we’re duly impressed with the Roadster Sport’s capabilities. Imagine the possibilities if future battery technology can cut the pack’s weight by half or two-thirds.