Landspeed Prius Races Across Bonneville...

[aerohead]

This may have been posted already but I had not seen it.Pretty cool!
Landspeed Prius Races Across Bonneville Salt Flats | PriusChat

[Cobb]

Thanks, too bad its 11 years old.

[MetroMPG]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjKntmE4jlA#t=38

[Cobb]

Wonder who thought this was a "Good Idea"?

[freebeard]

Youtube's sidebar comes through again. Slammed wide-body Prius with a wing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiWG6zb-pDc

He really comes in hot for that pit stop.

[Cobb]

He should get some moon disks for those wheels to help his aero.

[Xist]

That started looking familiar when I looked into it. That video did not seem to tell us anything. I found this thread, but nothing else: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...yep-20112.html

But a Prius wouldn’t be a Prius without a hybrid powerplant, and this GT300 car is no exception to that rule. Amazingly, it still makes use of the original Hybrid Synergy Drive system, though relocated to the passenger footwell for better weight distribution and connected to a slightly larger lithium-ion battery from the Prius+ MPV.

Unlike the standard car, however, the electric motor is not attached to a 1.8-litre Atkinson cycle engine and there is no point looking under the bonnet, because you’ll find nothing there either.

Instead this car now runs a 3.4-litre V8 race engine mounted between the B-pillars and rear axle, delivering torque to the rear wheels via a sequential manual gearbox. It is the same RV8K engine used in Toyota’s Formula Nippon, GT500, and LMP1 competitors, albeit de-tuned from its original 600PS output to meet GT300 regulations. Capping the combined output to 300PS is what allows for such a fascinating variety of car, engine and chassis combinations within this class.

Yes, that sounds familiar. So, the only way in which it is a Prius is because they took the HSD with an upgraded battery, which they mated to a race engine?

The entire car is made from scratch, steel frame, carbon fiber body, and those huge wheels, but they put in a Prius hybrid system and call it a Prius.

If I put Prius guts in the trunk of my car, does that make it a Prius trunk?

Why does it have yellowed headlights? We know how to fix that on cars that actually have headlights, are they just going for the Green Goblin look?

[some_other_dave]

I hate the jerkiness of the footage...

I had thought that the transmission in the Prius was an essential part of the HSD; even the defining part? How can that work with a sequential gearbox, then?

The yellow headlights are most likely mandated by the rules. In endurance races with mixed classes, the faster and slower cars have different colored headlights. That's so someone can get an idea if a car is faster than them generally, or slower than them generally. This theoretically allows drivers to let the fast cars by, or to not worry about letting a slower car by.

-soD

[freebeard]

I hadn't thought much about it beyond, why not the V-6? It's pretty obvious it has a mid-rear layout, and a fiberglass 'funny car' body.

Unlike the standard car, however, the electric motor is not attached to a 1.8-litre Atkinson cycle engine and there is no point looking under the bonnet, because you’ll find nothing there either.

Instead this car now runs a 3.4-litre V8 race engine mounted between the B-pillars and rear axle, delivering torque to the rear wheels via a sequential manual gearbox

It sounds to me like it might be a 'through-the-road' hybrid, pure electric up front and gas in the back. Which is disappointing for a couple of reasons. One is the 2004 Alessandro Volta concept.



The other is that there exists a Korea spec/trailer towing option for the Highlander Hybrid/Lexus LX400 (3500lb towing capacity) drivetrain that was used in the Alessandro Volta.

So with a Prius donor car and a totalled SUV (how about hail damage, the glass and sheet metal are trashed but the heart is still golden?) You could have a 3.3liter V-6 and 2 MGRs in the back with the third MGR in the front.

I'd want narrower but off-set wheels and a narrower wide-body kit and no wing. Ride height looks good though.

[botsapper]

Honda Insight tried the salts...and proved its structural integrity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbNlR-fMlOw