Should NASCAR go electric?

I like the IROC idea, but NASCAR died for me when they stopped using "stock" cars. At least Formula 1 has pushed the technology in hybrid poweplants. Hopefully the innovations there make it into the cars we can afford to drive.

The Formula E series requires that the cars are exchanged halfway through the race since the current battery technology can handle the race distance. That may be necessary to avoid a 4 hour charge pitstop, but it resets any car damage the driver might have incurred during the first half of the race.

Lewis Hamilton was on James Cordon's Late Late Show and James asked Lewis if he would try Formula E. Lewis's answer was classic (in a nutshell: no interest).
Yup, we can go buy our Formula 1 car off the showroom floor every day ... :eek:

Theres a TON of technology in our everyday cars that is brought over from NASCAR.
 
Theres a TON of technology in our everyday cars that is brought over from NASCAR.
Yeah, like Fuel Injection... Oh, wait, that's right, ILLEGAL in NASCAR...
...and Anti-lock Brakes... Oh, right, ALSO BANNED in NASCAR...
...and Electronic Stability/Traction Control... Sigh, not allowed in NASCAR...
...what about Safety? Yep, I'd rather crash a NASCAR (and probably would!) than a modern car. But their Mission Statements are totally different. Full roll cages aren't offered by most of the autos on the road.

I'd say that NASCAR may have contributed to the cars we used to buy in the 1960s and 1970s, but the cars we buy today are far more advanced than what goes around in circles every Sunday.

While the Energy Recovery Systems in F1 harvest not only Kinetic Energy (regenerative braking) which is available on most Hybrids and Electric cars, they have also been using a generator attached to the turbocharger to harvest the excess heat energy that escapes in the exhaust. Is the payoff in a passenger vehicle enough to recoup the cost of such a system? Maybe not for a family sedan, but it could give you an extra MPG in a turbocharged sports car that might be hit with the Gas Guzzler tax otherwise.

Even if we don't agree on how relevant NASCAR is today, I think we both agree that Electric NASCAR is a bad idea!
 
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It's a primitive fuel injection system compared to what is in modern consumer vehicles. Simple and primitive to keep the costs down and keep all the cars somewhat equal.
Still other than aerodynamic data, the racing vehicles contribute very little to the technology of modern consumer vehicles
 
It's a primitive fuel injection system compared to what is in modern consumer vehicles. Simple and primitive to keep the costs down and keep all the cars somewhat equal.
Still other than aerodynamic data, the racing vehicles contribute very little to the technology of modern consumer vehicles
Ummm no...im sad I read this thread....
 
Don't watch NASCAR do you? Otherwise you'd know they switched to fuel injection a couple years ago.
Really? No more carburetors? That helps some, but I keep on hearing about restrictor plates. So is it a Throttle-Body Injection system, like GM put in Cameros and Corvettes circa 1982?

And you're right, I don't watch much NASCAR. I do like the road courses, but that's only two races (Watkins Glen and Sonoma)... And I do root for our native son, Ryan Newman, but he hasn't been doing too well these last couple of years.

Anyway, I don't mean to infer that NASCAR isn't a great racing series. They have a formula and have stuck to it over the years, adapting for safety and economy as needed. It isn't like F1 hasn't turned into a snooze-fest, either, but the amount of money needed to get into F1 is prohibitive. NASCAR has managed to make it (and keep it) reachable to the drivers, team, and fans.
 
Really? No more carburetors? That helps some, but I keep on hearing about restrictor plates. So is it a Throttle-Body Injection system, like GM put in Cameros and Corvettes circa 1982?

And you're right, I don't watch much NASCAR. I do like the road courses, but that's only two races (Watkins Glen and Sonoma)... And I do root for our native son, Ryan Newman, but he hasn't been doing too well these last couple of years.

Anyway, I don't mean to infer that NASCAR isn't a great racing series. They have a formula and have stuck to it over the years, adapting for safety and economy as needed. It isn't like F1 hasn't turned into a snooze-fest, either, but the amount of money needed to get into F1 is prohibitive. NASCAR has managed to make it (and keep it) reachable to the drivers, team, and fans.

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-...n/nascar-edu/nascar-basic/efi-fast-facts.html

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk
 
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Cool, I didn't realize they had advanced that much. Not the Direct Injection like my car has, but at least it's 21st Century stuff. Thanks for the link!
 
I'd love to be able to walk in to the dealer,Chevy/Ford/Toyota/whoever,and buy a nascar.Simple,rear wheel drive,no airbags,no antilock brakes,no EPA bullsh!t.None of the crap that makes people who can't drive think they're safe while they're playing with their phones or talking,with both hands,while driving 80 mph in a snowstorm.
I do want AC and power windows tho :biggrin
 
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I'd love to be able to walk in to the dealer,Chevy/Ford/Toyota/whoever,and buy a nascar.Simple,rear wheel drive,no airbags,no antilock brakes,no EPA bullsh!t.None of the crap that makes people who can't drive think they're safe while they're playing with their phones or talking,with both hands,while driving 80 mph in a snowstorm.
I do want AC and power windows tho :biggrin
You can buy that, but it will take quite awhile to get and it will be REALLY expensive.
Also, your Gas Mileage will seriously suffer from your daily car.
 
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You can buy that, but it will take quite awhile to get and it will be REALLY expensive.
Also, your Gas Mileage will seriously suffer from your daily car.
Maybe you misunderstood my point,I don't want a racecar,I want them to go back to building real cars and trucks.Not the government/lawyer/insurance co's safety pods that infest dealers today.Use technology for real quality instead of the perception of quality.
 
Maybe you misunderstood my point,I don't want a racecar,I want them to go back to building real cars and trucks.Not the government/lawyer/insurance co's safety pods that infest dealers today.Use technology for real quality instead of the perception of quality.
How old are you ?
Your probably talking needing to go back to the 50's and 60's.
 
I'm this old; 237214_a694e232d9_low_res.jpg Not my favorite year of Impala tho :biggrin
The 1850's sound pretty good to me about now.
 
I'll take my current 330hp 5.3L fuel injected FlexFuel V8 Avalanche any day, over my first truck in 1984, my grandfathers 1976 C1500 200hp 5.7L 350 V8.

That 76 C1500 was practically new, as my grandfather bought it new 6 months before he passed away and it only had 5000 miles on it when my grandmother gave it to me. It wasn't anything special, but I couldn't bring myself to sell it until about 15 years ago. Got tired of working on cars and keeping things I didn't really use or need. Now I do miss having fun in my dads 65 Tri Power GTO. He bought it in 67 and had it until the late 80's when an idiot crossed over the highway hitting him in the front quarter and totaled it. He was in the hospital for a week from that accident. I remember helping him to check all the fluids every weekend, before we would take a drive in it to my grandmothers.

Now design wise, modern aerodynamics has pretty killed any hint of real creativity in autodesign
 

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