Innovation through Racing by AnthonyT

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Innovation through Racing

POSTED BY: ANTHONYT
UPDATED: Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:14
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Friday, January 21, 2011 4:29 AM

Freedom is Important because People are Important

http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2011/01/14/t_tt_fastest_electric
_car.cnnmoney/?iid=OSMA

Hello,

I see this as a positive. Just as racing helped innovation in gasoline vehicles, so shall it be in electric vehicles.

--Anthony

Assured by friends that the signal-to-noise ratio has improved on this forum, I have disabled web filtering.

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Sunday, January 23, 2011 11:53 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

As a gearhead and a car guy, I hear lots of moaning and grumbling about "the death of motorsports", and I always laugh. If I've learned anything in my years, it's that if there's something with wheels and two guys to argue about how fast it can go, there's going to be a race. I've seen people race everything from lawn tractors to F1 cars, minibikes and mopeds to barstools and margarita makers. I've even watched people race belt sanders.

To imagine that all of that would end because cars started using hybrid technology, or pure electric tech, or any other means of propulsion, is just pure folly.

Porsche is racing a gas-electric hybrid version of their 911/935 Carrera family, and has plans to build a hybrid "supercar" in the vein of the recent 200+mph Carrera GT. F1 is talking about bringing back the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) units, which convert kinetic energy into electric power to add a short burst of up to around 85 horsepower, which can be used as often as once per lap.

Jaguar is showing a concept vehicle which dusts off the old Chrysler "Turbine Car" technology and updates it to modern times. It uses a gas turbine, which can essentially run on any combustible fuel (LNG, Propane, kerosene, diesel, biofuel, gasoline, lighter fluid, camp stove fuel, etc.), but it doesn't use it for propulsion by gearing down the turbine to turn a transmission, like the old Chryslers tried (and which was their biggest shortcoming). Instead, the Jag does the more sensible thing: It uses the gas turbine to generate electricity. Gas turbines tend to spin REALLY fast - the old Chryslers were said to *idle* at around 15,000rpm - and that's a fantastic way to generate a lot of electricity very quickly. Also, such a turbine system can be packaged anywhere in the car, and the electric motors it feeds can be situated inside the wheels. The car can be front-drive, rear-drive, or all-wheel-drive, all in the same vehicle, as needs arise.

As such technologies advance, so also to all the subsystems of the vehicle make strides towards more efficiency. Old-style power robbers like hydraulic power steering and engine-driven (belt-driven) A/C compressors are going away, replaced by electrical units that require less power and less complexity, and offer far more flexibility. Want more steering feel and force feedback in your wheel? Turn down a knob, or set your remote with your preferences. If your wife wants to steer with one finger in the Safeway parking lot, she can do that, too. Want your car to be nice and toasty inside on a cold winter morning? Go for it - no need to start the engine; just program the HVAC settings and you're done.

Change can be scary, but it can also be amazing. Prepare to be amazed.

This Space For Rent!

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Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:14 PM

DREAMTROVE

Quote:
As a gearhead and a car guy, I hear lots of moaning and grumbling about "the death of motorsports", and I always laugh

Failing that, you could also point out the perhaps millions of lives that have been saved by safety features invented by the racing community, and sadly, millions more that could be, if all of those discoveries were implemented in consumer vehicles.

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