The Demise of the Car?

[NachtRitter]

Racing of some sort will be around forever. Electric is the new frontier. Imagine a track which has inductive charging built in... if your car is in the correct lane, it won't be the ideal line but it gets charged; if not, you'll be able to pass but you might have to pit sooner.

[nemo]

Full scale slot car racing.

[Rokeby]

I think that what the article refers to is...

"The demise of the traditional ICE powered car as we know it as the vehicle of choice in the USA."

About a century ago, the then only practicable means of popular transportation, the horse (and buggy/wagon), was being displaced by the upstart auto-mobile/horseless carriage.

Today, for the first time in about 100 years there are now readily available choices; hybrids, EVs, and just maybe in 10 years or so, hydrogen and or fuel cell vehicles. (Properly, discussions on the latter two should get a separate thread.) I think some form of personal transportation will be around for quite some years to come. But over time fewer and fewer will be solely ICE powered, and the computer controlled propulsion in the rest will be very difficult for average folks to modify, whether for racing or other reasons.

As generally older folks, we tend to see our vehicles as means of transportation needed to support our lifestyle -- many choices here.

But thinking back to younger days, a vehicle was also a tool for communication. It took you to where other folks were. You could ride around with a limited number of friends gabbing about stuff. It fostered one-on-one communication of the intimate kind. ("four on the floor!")

I'm not at all surprised that the traditional "car" with what can now be seen as time-based deeep emotional attachments it is being replaced in these communicatiions by electronic devices. Today, direct person-to-person/selected group comms:
* are much less expensive (think current high teen age unemployment)
* can involve other like-interested folks from around the globe
* doesn't require licensing
* can occur 'round the clock
* are instantaneous

If you're so inclined, what's not to like?

As for racing...
There are folks who are still fascinated by horse-related activities. Some even race horses, "The Sport of Kings," presumably due its expense. Its anacronistic, way out of the main stream, has little or no significance beyond racetrack centerfield shenanigans for almost everyone.

I can anticipate that in time ICE based motorsport will go the same way. Maybe it will be called "The Sport of Internet Moguls." With luck there will still be local racing for regular folk who have strong emotional attachments to the way it was "when I was young, back in the day."

"Wake up Grandpa! The lunar rover drag racing is about to start."
" Huh? I was resting my eyes...
You call that racing? I hate those things, they don't make any noise.
Why, have I told you about the time that me and some friends... "

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by suspectnumber961

Indeed, the migration from suburbs back to the cities, the resurrection of rail, and the fact that oil will never be cheap again puts economies – and culture – on a newly defined path to other forms of transport and other ways of working.

There is evidence that the slowness of the US economic recovery can be attributed to the high cost of oil due to excessive oil futures speculation.

The world needs to get off of oil, going back to WWII it's been one of the root causes for many wars.

[Sven7]

Originally Posted by suspectnumber961

2 million sales per yr of a light-weight fuel efficient and inexpensive car lost?

China or India will step up to the plate?

So, tell me; if some vehicles are to be culled off, why would they be the fuel efficient ones? Wouldn't natural selection kill the big, energy hogging SUV's and sports cars? I imagine the automotive landscape will start moving toward the small and efficient, which is not to say they can't still be fun. Small, light cars don't need much in the power department to elicit a smile!

Originally Posted by Ryland

I think SUV's are doing more to take that away then anything else but that adrenaline rush is being replaced with the rush that you get from ridding a bicycle...

In reading about electric cars a lot of people seem to be pushing for electric cars being so cheap that everyone can have one and to me the decline in car ownership is a good thing.

I ride bikes too and can tell you I've never gotten a thrill as I have with motor racing. It's been said that it is "the most fun you can have with your pants on". On a bike you may be more involved with it and be exerting yourself more but you don't get the outright speed or the vehicle dynamics. It's so great to let off the gas a bit and feel the balance shift forward, slipping the tail out a little as you pull around a tight corner on a gravel road.

Originally Posted by Rokeby

I'm not at all surprised that the traditional "car" with what can now be seen as time-based deeep emotional attachments it is being replaced in these communicatiions by electronic devices. Today, direct person-to-person/selected group comms:
* are much less expensive (think current high teen age unemployment)
* can involve other like-interested folks from around the globe
* doesn't require licensing
* can occur 'round the clock
* are instantaneous

If you're so inclined, what's not to like?

As for racing...
There are folks who are still fascinated by horse-related activities. Some even race horses, "The Sport of Kings," presumably due its expense. Its anacronistic, way out of the main stream, has little or no significance beyond racetrack centerfield shenanigans for almost everyone.

You can't, ahem, kiss in a cell phone.

When you want to both be alone with someone special and get away from your house/parents/siblings there are few things better than a good cruise.

Horse people are still around and not many race them. Dressage, driving and trail riding are all very much alive and don't take the huge investment of keeping racing horses in order. Yes, they're still very expensive, but as I tell my horse owning mother, you don't need to feed a car every day! You also don't need to go to an actual track to have fun with a car, especially a classic. The smaller and more nimble your car is, the more fun it usually is on the road. Think old British and Italian roadsters- they're tiny and cramped and unreliable, but they've got a huge following for good reason.

Anyway, that's enough of my moaning and groaning about how cars are awesome. Carry on with your regularly scheduled thread.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by kach22i

The world needs to get off of oil, going back to WWII it's been one of the root causes for many wars.

I believe that there have been documented cases of... pump rage...

[Xist]

Oh, and how many of us have been to war?

I would personally like to minimize those.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Sven7

When you want to both be alone with someone special and get away from your house/parents/siblings there are few things better than a good cruise.

Yay. Three posts in a row from me.

In May I had just come back from overseas and a girl came to visit me. I was staying with my sister while I was readjusting and for some reason, my sister did not like the girl without knowing anything about her, so we spent most of her visit in my car.

That is not the best option in May in Arizona.

[TheEnemy]

It also depends on where you live, where I live we are pretty rural and while we can order almost everything on the internet now there are many things that we have to travel out of town to get or do. For my area cars of some sort are necessary.

The commuter train our last govoner was pushing through is, or was planned to stop here eventually when the line was to be extended through. However it has been having financial issues as it has not been bringing in the forcast revinue, and the operating costs have been higher than forcast. But even if it did come here there would be difficulties without a car due to the lack of local public transport.

When I was in the Air Force I went without a car for close to a year. It left me very dependant on others, and often limited what I could do on my off time.

Doing without a car may be easy in larger cities that can support public transport but many areas its not entirely practical for most people.

[rmay635703]

The thing people do not realize is that this is a good thing.

People need to inevitably move away from oil back to man power and this would NOT be a bad thing to go back to the land and back on our feet, we are built to do that afterall.

Cars and all these amazing things will need to get toned down over the years and our energy intense lifestyle will need to tone down as well, we all would be better off with a slower pace coupled with good old fashioned work and less driving distances.

I think it is possible to eliminate most of the need for individuals to be driving every day and the world would be better for it.

Next step would be to get freight to slow down (the speed not the amount) and save some fuel. That and get some semis off the road and convert them to trains.

Cheers
Ryan