This Tesla Roadster Fan-Made Ad is an Inspiring Falcon Heavy Tribute
Two of Elon Musk’s biggest achievements have come together in a fan-made commercial released Sunday, and the results are incredible. The ad focuses on the second-generation Tesla Roadster, set to hit the roads in 2020, interspersed with footage from the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch earlier this month.
“My inspiration for the ad mainly came from my love for Elon Musk’s projects and companies and his success with them,” Matthew Manaloto, a 19-year-old psychology student at UC Santa Cruz and the creator of the ad, tells Inverse. “A lot of people like to bet against him, yet it seems every time he pursues a project, it becomes a great success. I really think Elon Musk is one of the most important figures of our time in terms of the future of humanity. Space exploration and electric cars wouldn’t be where they are today without SpaceX and Tesla.”
The ad is based on the Audi R8 Super Bowl commercial from 2016. It featured a retired astronaut reliving the glory years when his son takes him for a drive in a V10 Plus, set to the tune of David Bowie’s “Starman.” Manaloto took the ad’s depiction of a fictional rocket trip and replaced it with footage from the real-life launch of the world’s biggest rocket, transforming it from an ad contrasting past and present to one that demonstrates two cutting-edge advancements.
Watch the footage below:
Manaloto shared his creation on Reddit, where it received rave reviews from the Tesla subreddit.
“Showed it to my 83 year old mom and she loved it,” said Reddit user “RogerDFox.” “And gives it her stamp of approval.”
Tesla expects the Roadster to break new ground when it launches. At the car’s unveiling at the Tesla Design Studio in November 2017, demonstrated alongside the Tesla Semi electric truck, the company promised a slew of impressive specs. The Roadster will achieve acceleration at a rate of 0-60 miles per hour in 1.9 seconds, and 0-100 in 4.2 seconds, reaching a quarter mile in 8.8 seconds, all of which Musk claims are world records. On top of that, the car comes with a 200kWh battery pack capable of running for 620 miles, the first time a production will travel more than 1,000 kilometers on a single charge at highway speed.
“The goals he set for the Tesla Roadster are completely insane, but I trust and admire Elon Musk,” Manaloto says. “He’s broken everyone’s expectations so far, and I think he’ll be able to break them again.”
