76 British Tesla car owners descended upon last weekend’s Silverstone Classic – an annual three-day race event in Towcester that attracts crowds of 100,000 people – to offer test drives to the curious crowd.
At first, staff from iconic car makers including Aston Martin, Pagani and Porsche thought Tesla had paid staff to stage the EV invasion, but according to Will Fealey, who tweeted to Elon Musk about the event, the 76-strong group of Tesla car owners were there of their own accord.
Hi @elonmusk this weekend 76 @Tesla cars from @TeslaOwnersUK gave up their weekend to drive ~10,000 (yes 10K) test drive experiences for the VIP, media, competitors and families visiting one of the largest ICE events in the world #SilverstoneClassic – Staff from… pic.twitter.com/IRAC9wxeAp
— Will Fealey (@WillFealey) July 23, 2018
Rather, the idea was the work of community Tesla group @TeslaOwnersUK, to give VIPS, media and competitors the chance to go for a spin in the EVs. Reportedly, around 10 per cent of the crowd – yes, 10,000 people – took up the offer.
Test drives took around 2-5 minutes per person, allowing each passenger enough time to get a feel for the performance and technology in the electric vehicles.
This meant around 7-8 hours was spent by each individual Tesla car owner giving test drives – an impressive effort in the campaign to give ICE car lovers a chance to experience an EV.
The Tesla owners were also invited to perform two laps of the Silverstone Circuit, which is home to the British Grand Prix. Fealey was given the honour of being pace car for the whisper-quiet parade.
“In pure silence (except for tyre squeals) we showed the crowds just a small part of what (Teslas) can do,” he wrote.
We were then invited for parade laps around the Silverstone Circuit (home of the British Formula 1 Grand Prix) where I was given the role of pace car for one lap ???? #bucketlist In pure silence (except for tyre squeals) we showed the crowds just a small part of what they can do… pic.twitter.com/1zC8DWAp3l
— Will Fealey (@WillFealey) July 23, 2018
Sports photographer Mat Acton also got in on the action, capturing some great shots of the EV invasion.
Legendary action sports photographer @MatActon took time out of his day to photographer a few of our cars at this weekends #SilverstoneClassic pic.twitter.com/xVTGgyd3Uq
— Tesla Owners UK (@TeslaOwnersUK) July 23, 2018
There were reports that certain oil executives were not that impressed. “They just moaned about everything all the way,” said one of the Tesla owners offering test drives.
However these were outweighed by an overwhelmingly positive reaction from those accepting test drives, with many of the drivers in the ensuing twitterstorm relating numerous approving comments.
The event even got the attention of Elon Musk, who tweeted back, “Wow, that’s really awesome. Thank you!”
The event has spurred so much interest that Fealey and Tesla Owners UK have already received a number of invitations to future events.
“We’ve already been approached by other events to do all this again and judging by my initial feedback I’m going to have several thousand of our members interested for next years event,” Fealey wrote.
… we’ve already been approached by other events to do all this again and judging by my initial feedback I’m going to have several thousand of our members interested for next years event. So thanks to the whole Tesla team for building…. pic.twitter.com/WvkrqeXjPl
— Will Fealey (@WillFealey) July 23, 2018
