In the description you say the driver shouldn't have a space-suit, but in the comments you say that it has to be driven without a helmet. A lot of prototype/test/racing cars are driven with a helmet though, and they're still normal cars. Is the helmet thing a hard criterion?

The “driven without a helmet” was a temporary thing until Shakeel clarified that it doesn’t matter; the current clarification in the description supersedes it.

This is what a “car” that can do 0-60 mph in under a second looks like: https://youtu.be/mvoFemftA34

This holds the world record.

No “Tesla” is ever going to match this, even with the fudge of rollout.

I suspect that if it happens, it will have something to give it active downforce, not just passive. If I understand correctly, the link you posted uses a very small clearance between the ground plate and the asphalt to give it a suction force for extra grip. I expect a Tesla will have a fan or thrusters or something to give it that force in a more straightforward manner.

The thruster proposal is broken down elsewhere in the comments here, but for a fan car you’re looking at something like a McMurtry Spiérling.

That car is highly focused on generating downforce, has a power:weight ratio of at least 1hp/kg, seats one in a very narrow package to minimise frontal area and drag, and yet can only manage 0-60 in about 1.4s.

Fair enough. The only thing I'm surprised by is that the Spiérling only has twin motors. Surely you'd want 4 wheel drive for this?

Anyway I dunno if it's realistic for Tesla, it seems pretty hard. Though somehow I wouldn't be surprised if they match or exceed the Spiérling, they do have a history of tech feats.

Here's some back of the envelope calculations. Typical cold gas thruster specific impulse values are 50-60s in vacuum. I don't see any values for sea level but let's estimate it at 30s. That would mean that to achieve 1000 kgf of thrust you would need to be using 33 kg/s of air. 5s of thrust would be 165kg of air, at 6,000 psi that's 400L. And a 12L 4500psi carbon fiber scuba diving tank holds 4kg of air and weighs 11kg, so the weight of the tank would be several hundred kg.

For a hypercar, a five figure cost for this system isn't a deal-breaker. Seems like the cold gas thrusters might be technically feasible, but whether there's market demand for a car that can do a couple seconds of crazy acceleration before it runs out of gas, I'm not sure.

Not gonna happen without major advance in tire materials

@JonathanRay Or a rocket but I strongly doubt a rocket would be street legal nor worth the cost

Cold air thrusters might provide additional downforce.

A human in the car? that is deadweight for a FSD.

Does it count to put a rocket on wheels?

@TeddyWeverka Yes, if it’s made by Tesla, claimed to be a car, and there’s a human not in a spacesuit inside who survives

Would a special track car count, or must it be a car available to the general public for use on public roads under a normal driving licence? I think the intention is probably the latter, but a clarification would help.

@jrmygrdn They will almost surely have a test car that accelerates this fast but almost certainly won’t have a commercial, road-legal vehicle with this acceleration.

@TFC Yeah, clarification on the resolition criteria is needed regarding road legality.

Very common for high-performing cars these days to have a track mode that is not road legal (AMG Project One, Chiron Super Sport,…)

So does everything need to be road legal? Does the <1s time need to be able to be performed legally on a public road? (Does it count if it's legal anywhere in the world or does just the US count?)

@jrmygrdn the context of the market is this tweet from Shakeel, so I'll wait for a clarification from him:

I'll default to the technical ability, tested with a human without a helmet inside, of a car produced by Tesla, but please wait for clarification if that seems important.

I amended the description with a note on the ambiguity

@JonathanMannhart Clarified: any car produced by Tesla counts, even if it’s not road-legal