2009 Tesla Roadster Sport

During the Detroit Auto Show, Tesla released details on an upcoming variant of their electric sports car, (discussed here), that promises improved acceleration and greater lateral grip.  The imaginatively named Roadster Sport will use a hand-wound stator (which sounds unpleasant to deal with) to reduce friction and increase efficiency.  This apparently drops the 0-60 time from 3.9 to 3.7 seconds, which is quite fast for a car with no pistons.

The suspension benefits from stiffer, adjustable dampers and thicker sway bars at the front and rear.  The Roadster Sport uses Yokohama Advan A048 tires, which is basically a barely DOT-legal race slick.  This car, with it's instant torque delivery, has to be a nightmare to drive in the wet!

Tesla has yet to release real pictures of the Roadster Sport, but have distributed these renderings that show what the Roadster Sport should look like when it shows up.  The price tag for this faster electric hot rod is a hefty $128,500, and deliveries will begin in June.