Tesla driver’s utter ‘look at me’ stupidity has whole world’s attention.

BEING the centre of attention often comes with Tesla involvement, but that went to new – and patently dangerous – heights in California.

 Authorities in Los Angeles are looking for a person who performed a hugely reckless stunt with a rented Tesla Model S, crashed it and then fled the scene.

Police say the suspect performed what they call a “dangerous jump stunt” last night (NZ time), that resulted in a crash involving a pair of parked cars and several rubbish bins.

None of the occupants, who included a cat, were injured and the driver fled the scene.

 The stunt, which was thought to be an impromptu feat of bravura, was recorded by spectators who posted it on social media accounts. Multiple cell phone videos show the car reach high speed, go significantly airborne over a hill then land in a shower of sparks and crunching sounds before crashing into the parked vehicles.

Police subsequently said they had received dozens of tips and no longer need the public’s help.

 The stunt was performed on a well-known steep street in the Echo Park neighbourhood often used by thrill-seekers and was apparently wholly intentional.Another Tesla driver jumped their Model X at the same spot in 2020. That driver is a YouTuber named David Dobrik.

Earlier in the night about 100 Model S cars had come to a clandestine gathering organised on-line by a social media identity and they then cruised the city. Some were advised to go to Baxter St and watch for something special at the peak of the hill.

They certainly saw that.

The video here was filmed by automotive YouTuber Alex Choi and has also appeared on the Jalopnik site. Choi prefaces the clip by saying it was an incredibly stupid stunt that could have left people killed.

 Police are looking for the driver on hit-and-run charges.

Jordan Hook, the owner of one of the damaged cars — the Subaru Forester seen in Choi’s video— was quoted by the website for Road and Track magazine as saying: “It’s this trend thing. Everybody’s like ‘Oh I could be seen by Elon (Musk) if I do a stunt or a trick on this street!’ It’s just gotten kind of stupid.”