Hybrid Toyota Supra HV-R wins Tokachi 24 hrs
Toyota can now lay claim to having fielded the first hybrid vehicle to win an endurance race. The Denso SARD Supra HV-R won the Tokachi 24-hour race in convincing fashion, finishing 19 laps up on the second place car for a total of 616. The hybridized Super GT-spec Supra took the pole, lead all day, and opened up a significant gap in the final hours of the competition. It also had the fastest lap of the event. Powered by a 4,4480cc 3UZ-FE V8 augmented with a regenerative braking system, in-wheel electric motors in front, and a larger single electric motor for the rear wheels, the Supra HV-R was the sole GT-class entrant in this year's race. With reports saying that a production version of the FT-HS concept is on the way, we should be able to get a taste of what a streetable hybrid sports car is like in due time. In the meantime, Toyota has gone out and shown what a motorsports-prepared hybrid is capable of.[Source: SARD]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
A.Brien 2:00PM (7/16/2007)
Hybrid system is proportionnally good as you brake often because it's when you brake that it recharge the battery for free. So in town you save more but on the open road it's marginally good. I think that if you can charge the battery too before leaving the house it should be good too so the volt concept should be better then a prius. For that perticular race toyota must have tune the engine-electric-battery system only for that race and they must have beneficiated something from the ruling compare from the other teams.
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Karkus 2:34PM (7/16/2007)
Congratulations, Toyota!
Recently, diesels (namely Audi) have been dominating 24 hr races, and now hybirds are showing they beat regular old gas race cars too.
Unfortunately, hybrid haters keep trying to discredit them with myths and ignorant statements, such as....
1) "hybrids aren't any more efficient at highway speeds".....yes they are. They can use smaller engines and can be tuned for efficiency without having to worry about torque (since electric motors have TONS of it).
2) "hybrid was tuned to excel in this race/at EPA ratings, etc..."
First of all, all race cars are tuned to excel in their respective races...duh!... that's the whole point of a race. If you don't, you'll loose and look stupid doing it.
(And as for those claiming hybrids were tuned to excel at EPA ratings, let's look at the Prius. It's sold worldwide (virtually identically), and it rates about the same in UK efficiency tests as in the US, and even higher in Japan. So that kind of dispels that myth.)
Why can't people be happy that fuel efficient technologies can also be used to win races?
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TG 3:00PM (7/16/2007)
This is all very interesting fun and games, yet in reality we are all looking for a practical EV we can actually own.
I have chosen the two true winners and they are both Phoenix. Fist choice is their EV SUT and second, their sedan.
The hybrid, [ two vehicles in one], is needlessly complex and only a short term fad. So much for hybrid racing.
The pure and reliable EV, without all the complex ICE systems baggage, is the ideal vehicle. There is always the option of taking along a 3 cylinder TDI gen-set for longer trips.
The Challenge: If you can suggest an EV that is practical, built tough, and reasonably priced,[ better than Phoenix], I will feature it on my BlogSite:
http://TonyGuitar.blogspot.com
No hybrid, no bio-fuel, but compressed-air motor could be a contender. Like the taxis in Paris:
http:BendGovernment.blogspot.com
So far the Phoenix EV SUT looks like the winner! = TG
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jeremie 3:42PM (7/16/2007)
This is very good news for EV tech and the electric motor wheel.
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Domenick 8:03PM (7/16/2007)
Wish we could get some numbers on those in-wheel motors. That is the future.
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Alex Nunez 9:29PM (7/16/2007)
Domenick, the in-wheel motors on the Supra HV-R are 10 kW each.
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Chris M 11:21PM (7/16/2007)
There was an attempt several years ago to run a hybrid in Formula 1 racing, but it proved to be too good, making the other automakers look bad, so they rewrote the rules to ban it.
On a typical racetrack, the drivers often must brake just before the corners, then hit the throttle entering the straightaway. This allows a hybrid to strut it's stuff, with regen braking and high torque electric assisted acceleration. Also, better fuel economy means fewer pitstops/more laps.
Of course, if sufficiently compact powerful batteries come along, EV racers would then hold the edge.
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Karkus 10:21AM (7/17/2007)
It seems to me that for EV race cars, you'd want to also use ultracapacitors in the car which can be recharged in seconds at pit stops. Taking minutes to recharge batteries would seem to be out of the question.
Of course, EVs are a whole different category of race cars. At least with hybrids, you can make the case that they are still using the same fuel (gasoline) and gas tank size, etc. as all the other cars, but they're just using it more efficiently.
But if hybrids win a certain class of racing all the time, they'll probably eventually change the rules or make them a separate class of racing, because otherwise the races are just no fun to watch.
Still, the recent hybrid and diesel wins are great demonstrations that fuel efficient technologies can be successful at the race track as well as for a typical commute.
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