Would EV motorsports be interesting?

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LTLFTcomposite

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Maybe at a short track like Bristol or Richmond where the speeds aren't that high anyway. Richmond is intriguing on account of all the braking.

50-100 lap sprint. How much would you have to modify a Leaf to make it safe to race?
 
LTLFTcomposite said:
Maybe at a short track like Bristol or Richmond where the speeds aren't that high anyway. Richmond is intriguing on account of all the braking.

50-100 lap sprint. How much would you have to modify a Leaf to make it safe to race?

Check this out....

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/02/08/video-nicolas-prost-wins-first-electric-andros-trophy/
 
In the UK, sportscar manufacturer Westfield are launching an electric racing car. It is said to have a better power-to-weight ratio than a Formula One car. I was supposed to be getting a test drive on a private circuit a couple of weeks back but unfortunately that has been postponed.

It is designed to have a race distance of around 50 miles at racing speeds... which would probably equal around 150 miles on the road.

Lots of images of it here: http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&source=imghp&q=westfield+iracer&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
 
palmermd said:
Check this out....

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/02/08/video-nicolas-prost-wins-first-electric-andros-trophy/

Replacing the roar of engines with the high pitched whine associated (no pun) with RC cars takes some getting used to. Not sure your typical NASCAR fan will adapt quickly.
 
garygid said:
What mods to an ICE car are needed to "make it safe"?

Probably the same things, with gas-tank related changes.

What distance is one lap there?

Even though they call it "stock car" racing the cars are actually purpose built, but those cars approach 200mph. For an EV race you wouldn't see those kind of speeds so maybe you could modify or at least reuse components from production vehicles.

A lap at Bristol is half a mile but the track is highly banked. Richmond is 3/4 mile, but comparatively flat, best way to describe it is an oval with two straightaways with half circles at either end. As such cars often have brakes glowing red hot with the constant acceleration and braking into the turns.
 
LTLFTcomposite said:
palmermd said:
Check this out....

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/02/08/video-nicolas-prost-wins-first-electric-andros-trophy/

Replacing the roar of engines with the high pitched whine associated (no pun) with RC cars takes some getting used to. Not sure your typical NASCAR fan will adapt quickly.

Yeah, but then there's those slots in the track to deal with. And those yellow/orange handheld controllers to control the cars speed. And what about when a car spins off the track in a corner, is still in the slot, but cannot make contact with the power strip? Who will put it back on the track??
:lol:
 
Electric race cars are really not quiet. They make a hell of a din. It sounds something like a jet engine. The Tesla is makes a lot of noise - and its a great noise, with the motor wailing behind your ears as you floor the accelerator and hurtle towards the horizon, but electric racing cars are much louder.

One of my friends built an electric Land Speed Racer in 1999. Here is a short YouTube video of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nItB2mPrOX4

It certainly isn't quiet!
 
They are already racing over in the UK and Europe is trying to put together a circuit...check out the link below.

http://www.evcup.com/
 
MikeBoxwell said:
Electric race cars are really not quiet. They make a hell of a din. It sounds something like a jet engine. The Tesla is makes a lot of noise - and its a great noise, with the motor wailing behind your ears as you floor the accelerator and hurtle towards the horizon, but electric racing cars are much louder.

One of my friends built an electric Land Speed Racer in 1999. Here is a short YouTube video of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nItB2mPrOX4

It certainly isn't quiet!


Depends on the motor design and final drive. The Tesla motor is air cooled and does not have the same insulation as a Siemens water cooled motor.
 
Video - Zero Motorcycles at US TTXGP

This video runs from the initial staging thru the 11-lap race, the MONSTER burnout thru the pits, the awards, and money presentation by Chelsea Sexton. Team Zero/Agni is best in the corners, but Lightning's 'Yellow Banana' (reportedly running an EV1 motor!!) blasts thru the straights.

http://evworld.com/news_notes.cfm#1059

From EV World Insider - 14 June 2010

Who Said Electric Racing Couldn't be Exciting?
Okay, so how exciting can an electric …. yawn… motorcycle race be? There's no smoke, no screeching rubber, no whining engines; and nary a breath held in suspense. In short, it has to be boring, right?

Wrongo, buckaroos! If you think electric motorcycle racing is for greenies and weenies (and aren't they really the same,really?), you weren't at the first TTXGP e-Grand Prix at the Infineon Raceway outside Sonoma, California last month; or even better, you've not watched it on the 'Net courtesy of Zero Motorcycles...Here's the link to the streaming video of the 11-lap event. Here's hoping they keep providing this level of competition and video.


http://evworld.com/news_notes.cfm#1059
 
People will race anything with wheels. Grocery carts, office chairs...

I think electric car racing has multiple appealing aspects. And like other motorsports before it, will strengthen the breed. Once kids start "modding" their Dad's old EVs, the electric vehicle will have arrived. :)
 
The whole racing thing is anathema to me. I find it irresponsible and environmentally unsound. However, boys will be boys. Girls, too, these days. Personally, I have thought of starting up a website called electricaching.com or something like it to have a site for people to geocache in an ecologically friendly fashion. All the caches on it would be eligible to be found only by all-electric transportation, as a means to encourage EVs. I would allow electric bikes, scooters, trolleys, cars, Segways, etc., but the finder could not log it if he or she used any form of combustion engine anywhere on the route. I pretty much gave up geocaching in part because of the way it has gotten away from the original hiking-in-the-woods-and-mountains model to what it is now, where there's a geocache in every vacant lot and people are numbers crazy, driving hundreds or thousands of miles chasing after greater numbers, or particular types of caches. I'll probably never do it, but I think something like that would be an appropriate "motorsport" for EVs.
 
Rat said:
The whole racing thing is anathema to me. I find it irresponsible and environmentally unsound. However, boys will be boys. Girls, too, these days. Personally, I have thought of starting up a website called electricaching.com or something like it to have a site for people to geocache in an ecologically friendly fashion. All the caches on it would be eligible to be found only by all-electric transportation, as a means to encourage EVs. I would allow electric bikes, scooters, trolleys, cars, Segways, etc., but the finder could not log it if he or she used any form of combustion engine anywhere on the route. I pretty much gave up geocaching in part because of the way it has gotten away from the original hiking-in-the-woods-and-mountains model to what it is now, where there's a geocache in every vacant lot and people are numbers crazy, driving hundreds or thousands of miles chasing after greater numbers, or particular types of caches. I'll probably never do it, but I think something like that would be an appropriate "motorsport" for EVs.


I like that idea. That could work in places like London, where there are around 1,000 electric cars on the road.
 
Rat said:
The whole racing thing is anathema to me. I find it irresponsible and environmentally unsound.
A lot of racing drives technology that trickles down to your everyday vehicles... In the grand scheme of things, racing doesn't use a whole lot of resources - of course EV racing would be awesome.

The local go kart track, http://www.k1speed.com/, uses electric karts - way better than the equivalent gas powered ones. Faster, quieter and cleaner!

I imagine that once Lithium batteries get cheap enough to replace the lead-acid batteries they will be even faster once they drop the extra weight.
 
drees said:
In the grand scheme of things, racing doesn't use a whole lot of resources

People see the cars running around the track at a Nascar race and think what a waste of fuel. They don't notice that far more fuel was burned by haulers bringing the cars and equipment to the track, private coaches, and air travel (both private and commercial) for teams traveling to the race. All of which is dwarfed by the energy consumed by the spectators traveling to the race.

The total fuel consumption and carbon footprint of a Nascar race probably isn't significantly different from any other large sporting event (eg an NFL game).
 
My college had an electric car. IIRC it was an old Toyota Atlantic car. Here's a random article google found, as I can't seem to find anymore info on it (given though I'm on my work computer and my home one might have some more photos and info on it).
http://www.megawattmotorworks.com/display.asp?dismode=article&artid=247

A bunch of those in a race would be entertaining as all get out.
 
LTLFTcomposite said:
The total fuel consumption and carbon footprint of a Nascar race probably isn't significantly different from any other large sporting event (eg an NFL game).

Quite true. The tourism industry is probably the worst culprit - in terms of "non-essential" waste.

Only thing different with Nascar is that it celebrates that waste (indirectly).
 
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