Good overview, he seems to be quite serious "He said it’ll be placed in “a precessing Earth-Mars elliptical orbit around the sun.” What he means by this is what’s sometimes called a Hohmann transfer orbit, an orbit around the Sun that takes it as close to the Sun as Earth and as far out as Mars. " http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/elon-musk-on-the-roadster-to-mars