Auto X-Prize sucks!

[MazdaMatt]

trebuchet03, your points are dead on with exception to two things: your jetta's 0-60 is not 18 seconds, i looked it up and i found "a sluggish 10.3" ... you may be thinking of quarter mile time at 18! (read the post regarding a metro doing quarter miles in 19s). And 0.7G is TOTALLY NOT FUN... any good can can do .95, i imagine any lumbering SUV can handle 0.7. This is easily solved with some good tires, regardless of vehicle.

My parents also live (according to google maps) 215 miles from my house. I'd hate to have to call up dad to bring his Tacoma 15 miles down the road to tow my ass home, or worse yet, make a 4-hour battery recharge stop off the highway if i got stuck in traffic.

Oh yeah, lateral G has NOTHING to do with vehicle mass. It is simply a function of speed and radius. When racing we trade data logging devices from car to car and they measure lateral Gs without knowing the vehicle weight, it is a measure of radial acceleration. "Cornering Force" may be the term used that is weight dependant... not sure.

[bennelson]

I've been reading through the X-Prize rules again.

One thing I hadn't noticed before was that AIR CONDITIONING is REQUIRED in the mainstream class vehciles! It doesn't say that it has to be running though!

[trikkonceptz]

So am I the only one thinking we need to add some batteries to Basjoos Civic and enter it in the x-prize contest? LOL

[dichotomous]

Originally Posted by Unheard

Many times i have been driving at the speed limit and needed extra power just to get out of the way of danger.

no, you chose to not be aware of things ahead of time, you chose to initially drive fast enough so that you did not have enough lead time to notice the danger and slow down. trust me, speed is almost NEVER the answer to a safer driver. whereas slowing down is almost ALWAYS the answer to a safer driver.
I'm saying any of those situations where you felt you needed to speed up, was because you were either going too fast or were impatient and didnt want to slow to avoid the danger. you risked extra to use the additional speed in the name of safety. and I call BS on this whole theory, its rationalization for someone wanting to go fast and then making it sound importatnt

[JQmile]

Dang, my Chevette couldn't touch a lot of these regs...

56mpg....nope
80mph top speed.....nope
0-60 in 21 seconds....nope!!

I think there is no way a gas/diesel/propane car can take it without weighing like 600 pounds.....the winner will have to either be an electric or hybrid.

[Bicycle Bob]

A Metro with a long tail would have the requisite storage and a good start on the mileage tweaks needed to qualify. If it were my prize money, I'd ask for 1 + 1 seating and over 200 MPG, but those rules are generating interesting projects anyway. There are always a small number of people traveling in groups of four.

[jason.thompson]

I think the rules are biased towards electric vehicles.

Start stop technology won't be allowed.

Vehicles using a fuel converter will need to carry a sniffer made by Semtech. It weighs a lot and if you don't have room for it you have to carry it with a trailer.

Renewable energy takes a back seat because its "too complicated".

If the distance is only 200 miles why not just walk?

Their rules call for a car that would only be useful to Southern Californians living in an urban environment. Why not just build some public transportation like most functional urban cities?

Have you seen the suits there going to wear? I haven't but I heard there hillarious.

My Carnot is going to beat everyone.