Prius Race Car? - Yep.
 

I think it may lose a few mpg's in the transformation...

Toyota Prius GT300 Race Car is Mean and Green: 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon | AutoGuide.com News

http://www.autoguide.com/gallery/d/4...2/_MG_1705.JPG

that's kinda cool.

Great, now the streets will be filled with Prii with fart cans in no time!

...wonder how they handle the "re-fueling/re-charging" issue on a road-race (ha,ha)?

Remember this one?

Toyota.com : Hybrid Synergy View : Prius Sets Speed Record

A friend had his leaf out autocrossing. It didn't do that bad, and didn't deplete the battery as suspected. I have changed some peoples opinion about diesel performance. However, its much older technology and you could see my carbon footprint up in smoke. :-\

Changing public perception isn't always bad. Most people in US think diesel is slow like a semi, reliable as an old GM diesel V8. Electric car = golf cart death trap that will only go 20 yards at 5mph.

Know what I mean?

Like the cliched wisdom that racing and wars improve the breed, the technological advances are created, tested and verified on the fields of war/competition. Many rolling laboratories that achieve success are implemented on our everyday vehicles. (Carbon fiber, superchargers, disc brakes, tire compositions, active suspensions, DOHC, ABS, ESC, DSG, ...even the rear view mirror) Toyota Hybrid Le Mans Race Car Revealed | AutoGuide.com News

..I wonder how much they learned from this winner and improved the next Prii gen.
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/07/16/h...okachi-24-hrs/

So, the prius is gonna run LeMans?

Excellent.

I would be willing to bet the Audi TDI stomps it's arse, at the pump and the finish line. :)

I think you got a little confused. There is a SuperGT Prius race car... and a hybrid Prototype car Toyota is running in LeMans.

Drool!!!

Oh. Reading comp never was my best area.

Regardless, I believe the TDI would stomp any gasser hybrid. The reason for this is I don't believe regen braking at the retina detaching levels required for such racing is efficient.

I could be wrong though. If such power storage is possible through really fancy capacitors, such a drivetrain might compete with the oil burner.

braking in a racecar is to short and to hard for a proper regen, thats true. and immaterial for us.;)

My money is on the:

2013 Mitsubishi Evo XI - Best New Cars for 2012 - Popular Mechanics

:p

Have you read about the 2011 GT3 R Hybrid Race Car! This is my new favorite race car! Although the Evo has a better chance at being slightly affordable! :D

[QUOTE=pete c;280912Regardless, I believe the TDI would stomp any gasser hybrid. The reason for this is I don't believe regen braking at the retina detaching levels required for such racing is efficient.

I could be wrong though. If such power storage is possible through really fancy capacitors, such a drivetrain might compete with the oil burner.[/QUOTE]

That's why Porsche uses flywheel storage in its hybrid race car. More efficient than batteries (and maybe capacitors), and can accept energy at any rate up to the point where wires start melting.

Yeah, I've heard of it... but I'm a bit biased. :p That, and, you're right, the EVO should be in the low $40,000s.

Anytime you race two different types against one another, it depends on how the equivalence formula is defined. TDIs won Le Mans because the orgainizers wanted them to win.

I, of course, don't know the inner workings of the sanctioning body... but I think it's more of a case that they did not know what they were dealing with. Audi hit the nail on the head straight out of the gate. Each year the Audi was required to hold less fuel / limit it's horsepower / and or add weight to the car. By the end you had a TDI racecar that weighed quite a bit more with a smaller fuel tank making less horsepower... and it was still competitive with the brand new Puegots that were much faster in the dry (but it always rains at LeMans :))

My point is that if the yardstick used is performance/mileage, the TDI will win against a gasser hybrid. Probably goes for a diesel hybrid as well since racing is about weight and i don't see a hybrid sytem having enough of a performance/efficiency gain to make much sense in a race environment.

Possibly, but people made the same argument about 4 wheel drive in rally racing.... and I think you know what happened with that. :D

HaHa! I just noticed the EVO in your signiture - I am suprised you are getting mid 20's. That is good for that car! Our other car is a WRX - our mpg's are poor :eek: I keep thinking about mod'ing it for mgp's and my other half keeps pushing for the track mod's. Maybe there is a way to do both....

Yep, suspension and brakes is what you need most on the track. Swaybars, inverted struts, ss brakelines, etc. Then get your 3" downpipe (or entire exhaust) to free up the turbo and keep the heat down. At least that's what I did with my turbo Sube. I track down and pass many expensive "track" cars on roadcourses. Because just like with fuel economy... the biggest adjustment is to the nut behind the wheel! :thumbup:

The suspension helps with maintaining speed through corners, less braking = better gas mileage. But good gas mileage takes an incredible amount of self-control with a turbo. Just a slight hill and the stupid engine starts boosting and you are putting 100 horse to the wheels, just maintaining your speed. So, I normally don't bother.

Heh, I used to have a WRX. They were fun little cars... I probably should have kept it. I'm actually surprised at how efficient the EVO can be given all of the factors working against it. I'm still tweaking, but we'll see. I definitely have my eye on the EVO XI, though... 2014 I think. :D

So IMO in a racing environment, a hybrid actually makes the most sense because you are braking so much. A hybrid system has a power to weight advantage if done correctly. In racing the typical power to weight ratio of the energy storage and drive system is probably around the same as the engine itself.

Audi has some very good diesels, but diesels suffer more at high rpm than gasoline engines, and the thermal efficiency of racing engines is quite high. Turbocompounded F1 machines I believe can be 40% efficient. It's not safe at all to assume a diesel has an automatic, significant advantage due to typically higher efficiency, especially in racing where lugging that extra engine weight around hurts a lot.

^^^ We'll see if diesel-hybrids have any disadvantages compared to gas-hybrids in competition. Biggest endurance competition.
Audi confirms R18 hybrid as part of 2012 endurance racing program

Wow, that's great news. Competing systems will develop the technology much faster.