electric cars and there place in motorsports
 

so i was watching supercars exposed last night and an electric car was reviewed called the tesla ...
http://www.teslamotors.com/

this car is essentially a lotus chassis, with different panels and an electric lithium battery "motor" thrown in making 200+TQ and 248HP

so what i wanted to know was whats everyones opinion on electric cars participating in motorsports? drag, road race, rally etc....

should they be allowed to run?

is it far to the other cars in that sport?
*here is an example to justify the above question*

- take rally racing with WRC rules which state the cars must be limited to 225KW (around 300bhp/tq) so if an in electric/battery "motor" could produce 300hp and 300tq constantly and its power curve was just a straight line accross the dyno sheet all the was to 13,000rpm it obviously has an unfair advantage to say the rally subaru wrx who has a traditional power curve with arched tq and arching hp and isnt making the same power at 3000rpm as it would make at 6000rpm. also altitute and weather would not phase an electric motors performance at all but reduce performance in a combustion engine.

should it be considered a motor?

now discuss!!

I think for right now any power advantage would be negated by the extra weight inherant with the battery packs necessary to run the electric motor. I would consider it to be a motor, but obviously the rules will have to be adapted.

To be super pedantic an electric motor is a true motor and what we call a motor is more properly called an engine. :smack:

Weather, particularly cold definitely has an effect on batteries. In fact, that's a BIG part of what really "Killed the Electric Car."

In a race car configuration, with Li-Ion battery packs, I don't think there's much of a net weight penalty.

NHRA has a specific section regarding electric drag cars.

Personally, I think they should run in their own classes (e.g., electric Rally).

I want to build a street legal Motorgen electric AutoX/Drag car. :thumbs_up:

oh i didnt know NHRA an electric car section thats pretty cool.

and i agree with there not being a weight penalty. on the same show i watched last night *supercars exposed* they showed a company that makes Li-Ion powered 427 cobras and the show stated it was faster then the original had more power then the original, and tipped the scales at 200+lb's lighter then the original 427.

and making there own class for all these events is actually a great idea.

But they wouldn't be able to compete in long endurance racing. They would be able to drive 220 miles and then the pit stop would take about 3.5 hours so they could go another 220 miles.

Quick change packs. It would also add an element of explosive danger to the mix and everybody loves that. :thumbs_up: Some of the F1 boys have already gotten the crap knocked out of them and factories set ablaze from their new KERS system.

If I ever hit the jackpot, I'd build an electric version of this:

:hippy::gay::fruit:

Wait . . . more gas for me. Go ahead. . . Hippie.

Yes. Fair is a word used in the world of motorsports by those who have slow cars, and/ or those who are crying little bitches.

Everything is fair. Boost, nitrous, slicks, a frickin turbine engine, I don't care. If it goes, it goes. :thumbs_up:

Spec series racing is the only clear test of driver skill. It also makes for some of the best racing; for example "British Touring Car Championship", "Mazda Cup", "Porsche Cup". I love F1 for the technology, but Shumacher himself wouldn't have competed at the top if he were in a lesser car.