Musk Made a Surprise Visit to the Hyperloop Competition

Elon Musk's presence was much awaited by the 22 teams that participated in the Hyperloop competition.

This weekend a competition that gathered 22 different teams with as many Hyperloop design propositions decided which Hyperloop model would become the first step we take towards building the fifth mode of transportation. But the highlight of the event was not the fact that the MIT team won, but rather the one that none other than Elon Musk made a surprise visit to the Hyperloop competition.

Because Elon Musk is the person who first thought about the Hyperloop, it was only logical that he would make an appearance at the SpaceX sponsored Hyperloop Competition that took place in Texas this weekend.

When the competition’s judges announced the winner and things were starting to wrap up, the participants even initiated a new hashtag trend #WhereisElon in order let the hosts know just how much the inventor, engineer, innovator, businessman, Tesla Motors, and SpaceX co-founder was awaited by fans.

And as the lead engineer on the SpaceX team, Steve Davis, was delivering the final speech he actually acknowledged the #WhereisElon hashtag and used the newly formed trend to greet Musk on stage. The roaring applauses from the standing audience were a definite sign of how much he is appreciated in the young scientific community.
The Tesla Motors and SpaceX co-founder spent approximately 30 minutes on the competition’s stage. He delivered a speech for roughly ten and then started a Q and A session with the participants.

Among the questions he answered was one related to how he got the idea of the Hyperloop in the first place. It seems that the basic concept came to his mind when he was one hour late to a conference because he was stuck in traffic. While patiently waiting in his car he was thinking about a new faster transportation method and he brought the idea up when he finally made it to the conference.

Musk also spoke about the competition, underlining the fact that all of the designs that were submitted by the 22 teams were important, since the final Hyperloop model will, most probably, be a hybrid. The billionaire said that the ultimate judges will be economics and fundamental physics.

The talks deviated from the Hyperloop afterwards and Musk was asked questions about SpaceX, Tesla Motors and his participation in the Mars mission. He gladly answered each one and, according to the participants, inspired the young minds present to make a real change in the world.