Today, Tesla (TSLA) took the car unveiling to a new level by showcasing the next-gen Roadster’s capabilities. SpaceX rocket thrusters are integrated into the Tesla Roadster for real.
The company’s CEO and visionary, Elon Musk, along with Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen and lead engineer Lars Moravy, hosted the Tesla Roadster unveiling event.
Musk and his team stunned the world by showcasing unimaginable car stunts with the new Tesla Roadster. The late unveiling was totally worth it.
Tesla delayed the October 1 unveiling because of high winds. Now we know why. It could have been a disaster if the flying demonstrations went wrong.
Let’s watch and read the details of each of the two stunts Tesla performed on the next-gen Roadster (Roadster 3) at the unveiling event (Thursday, October 15, 2026).
Climbing the Arch and Landing from the Air
When invitees arrived at the planned unveiling site at SpaceX’s rocket facility in McGregor, Texas, they saw an arch-shaped structure behind the event’s stage. Visitors did not know what it was for until the first demonstration began.
As soon as it appeared on stage, the Tesla Roadster started climbing this structure. The electric supercar used suction ducts and fans in the rear diffuser to stick to the curve as it climbed. The air under the vehicle was pulled so hard that it defied gravity and held the inverse ramp upside down (like Spider-Man hanging from the roof).
As soon as the Roadster jumped, it flipped back to its normal position (tires down) and landed without hitting the ground hard. Tesla Roadster used SpaceX thrusters to control the attitude (angle).
According to Elon, the main thrusters are at the back, and attitude-control thrusters are installed on the sides (see videos below closely). Tesla Roadster has a total of 10 thrusters installed at the bottom, sides, and the rear.
Lars Moravy further explained that the new Roadster has two SpaceX rockets inside (carbon-overlay pressurized vessels). These vessels contain 250 kilos (600 liters) of pressurized air.
The 10 thrusters are actually 10 nozzles that push the air out, controlled by Tesla’s proprietary software technology.
Starship-style flight counters ran in the live feed on both sides of the screen. The Tesla Roadster jumped from ~68 feet in the air and endured a maximum G-force of 3.2 Gs on landing.
Lars explained it as:
To do that, we have a fan-suction system at the bottom of the car that can pull up to 2 Gs in order for the car to go upside down. And then, we borrowed some technology from SpaceX to do the rest.
Kickflip (Jumping Over 5 Teslas including a Semi-truck)
The 2nd stunt was as crazy as the first one. A Tesla Roadster jumped over 5 Teslas, including a semi-truck, performed a 360° flip mid-air, and landed perfectly.
To pull off this flying stunt, the Roadster didn’t need to be moving fast. It just drove towards the cars at a normal speed and instantly fired the bottom thrusters to lift off.
Attitude-control thrusters fired mid-air to perform a flip maneuver, and the downward thrusters fired again for landing. It all happened in about 3 seconds (watch below).
Stay tuned for more follow-up stories throughout the weekend. Check our Tesla Roadster page for the latest updates.
Related Tesla Roadster News
- Tesla stuns the world with the flying Roadster stunts (videos), learn how it all works
- Watch the live stream of the Tesla Roadster unveiling event and get live updates (pics and info)
- Tesla shares Roadster unveiling live-stream timings, “Timing is everything,” says Musk
- Tesla’s ‘Electric Fan Car’ patent makes Roadster unveiling even more dramatic
- Austin, Texas weather delays Tesla Roadster unveiling by 2 weeks
- Tesla Roadster’s teaser image shows firing SpaceX thrusters, final unveiling date is here, more
