Audi just won 24 Hours of LeMans, using a V6 versus Peugeot’s V8.
Both are also turodiesel, which is a fairly dramatic change from a few years ago.
So lots of “road car” advances come from racing. Over half of new passenger sales in Europe are diesels, so LeMans is highly relevant.
Formula 1 has been using KERS, related to Hybrid. Again, relevant to road cars.
Meanwhile, there is Nascar. Aren’t they still runing big V8s? Yep. to 358 ci.
No turbos. Four speed manual transmissions. No diesels.
And plastic bodies, styled after Plymouths, Pontiacs, and Oldsmobiles, to name a few.
I have no problem with this. Racing is fun to watch, but it also provides unparalleled design experimentation, including safety and engine design, which flow down to regular drivers like myself.
I don’t want to send any more money over to Arabia than I have to. I’d prefer not to send any at all.
Heck, modern Corvettes (another Le Mans winner) get much better mpg than my Jeep with an arcane 3.6L V-6, and of course can wipe it off the road at 1/4 throttle.