Probably not the place to post this as this 'car' place has turned into a 'life experiences' place........... but what the heck.

A car buddy and racer sent me this link with this comment: The speed of this car is sweaty-palm-fast but from the point of view of a spectator it is so very, very wrong. A dentist's drill is not nearly as annoying as this glimpse at the possible future of racing. I hope Al Gore is happy.

I must say I was totally sucked in after watching the entire drive (one has to let it load a long time to do it without interruptions) ........... of course, it was from the passenger seat of a really good driver's camera. I found myself trying to anticipate turns and then focusing on his hands and wheel movement along with tire squeal (being a gray hair I remember loving it with old 3-ply tires). From that seat I give it a thumbs up. Now if I was sitting on the lawn with cold one and there was no V-12 sound as they approached......... that might be an entirely different matter.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/auto-new...-for-ev-racing

 

No doubt there was plenty of practice time, and this was a professional driver who has probably driven dozens of different race cars and is therefore adaptable -- but I wonder how difficult it was for him to gauge speed without the engine noise. (Maybe they don't use that all, ever, as far as that goes -- I don't know.) But it seem like, in a given car, a few practice laps would put you audibly in touch with appropriate engine rpm sound for a given gear going into and through a given corner. And that was missing here. However he did it, he sure wailed around the track. HPH

 

Unlike driving by yourself on the road, when racing you are aware of the engine noise but it is not a factor at all. You drive using the feedback from your eyes and the car thru your hands and your butt. You focus on the tach for shifting and seldom, if ever, look at the speedometer.

 

Egad! Only thing missing was corner workers and wrecker crews wearing hazmat gear.

How are racetracks going to cope with accident scenes that get declared 'contaminated' by the EPA (battery contamination is pretty evil)?

Also pretty boring for the driver (no shifting). Was surprised Toyota didn't have that thing equipped with a cupholder and a bottle of Pepsi.

Perhaps future generations that haven't experienced motor racing (emphasis on "MOTOR") won't know any better, but this is one ol' codger who thinks the sounds and smells of machines being stressed to their limits at a racetrack are an essential part of the appeal of racing. The smell of electric motors burning up isn't going to cut it.

Would love to know how heavy the car is. Also, I would imagine corner exit speeds are a lot higher with the instant full-torque of electric motors, but I couldn't readily detect it on the video.

Vintage = Old Fashioned??? Probably so (at least on this seat)......

 

I love a comment from another buddy – “That is positively indecent! Not unlike a stripper coming out with all her clothes off and no music...no expectation, no fulfillment!”

Roy, the car in question is capable of 0-60 times in sub-3 second range and 160 MPH top speed. As you noted the E-car has max torque available instantly and linearly – one of the main items from which it derives its remarkable performance. They don't say how long the battery pack lasts but I would doubt it could last more than 1/2 hour.

And, yes unlike the video racers of today this is what us Vintage folks love:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOKdguuXl2g&feature=fvsr

 

Amen to 'indecent' . Great analogy! I would think that the TV folks ought to love it, cuz pit stops to "change the battery packs" ought to be long enough for them to get in LOTS and lots of commercials.

Neat video! Amazing at how many places those GoPro cameras can be put. If you blink a few times during that video, you can almost smell the carbon monoxide swirling in the turbulence behind the car... and there is nothing else that sounds as sweet as a Ferrari in full song. Thanks for posting it.

 

hmmm a few thoughts pop into my head

first while watching second video I left the sound up and jumped back into the first video;
electric car with ferrari sounds. heck the corners and popping downshifts even sort of lined up.

now to further the discussion of sound.
while i would love the sound of a wailing V12,
I'd love to quietly blast by cops on the side of the road and never give them a reason to lift their head out of the newspaper.
not that the squealing wouldn't give me away.

I do like the fact that racing will bring along the normal advancing of technology that racing always brings along.
Everyone will always be pushing for the edge and eventually that will trickle into our everyday daily drivers.

NSXe, the new NSX is reported to include all wheel drive, well, sort of.
the rears will be driven by gas and the fronts will be driven electrically.
coming out of corners will be a hoot. before the gas engine gets into the deep part of it's torque curve the electric motors will be pulling to beat the band.
it will make for very interesting vehicle dynamics.

lastly, reading the article shows bernie is still a frigging idiot.