“ Autonomous too? A tech race. Musk should start something like that.”
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Yeh, EV’s will have to be a class of its on. Say what you want; but electric motors deliver almost instant power/ torque. They’ll be almost impossible to beat in drag races. And, on the oval they will be able to sling shot out of the turns leaving gas fueled cars in the dust. Downside, will be distance traveled between battery swaps. Will be a trade off of distance vs weight I think.
I remember a couple years ago Musk showed up at the Nurburgring and set some fast times for one lap but found out those chubby Teslas are really hard on the tires
If you are talking daily drivers, you are right. Talking true track cars? No.
There are very real limits to how much power you can put through a stator at a given speed and voltage, due to back emf issue. You need complex switched mode power supplies to boost battery voltage as motor speed increases. Maybe one day solid state semiconductor switches will reach into that territory, but it isn’t there yet, and I don’t see it for years.
The piston engine is much more dynamic, and much less fussy, more fuel and air, more power. Simple blocks, Rods, valves, cams, pistons and bearings are easier and cheaper to replace if something starts to bend, and they tend to be able to take much more dynamic load than a copper wire. So people tend to push them much harder, and it’s easier to push them harder (said equipment above for emachines is not cheap, and it’s complex).
Also driver safety in a race car. Plasma is a lot hotter than burning gasoline or alcohol, or even burning nitromethane in open air. Which would I like to get hit by in a fire suit? I’ll take oxidizing fuel on a fire suit over vaporized metal plasma or a continuous or even half second multimegawatt arc anyday of the week.
Remember, 1334hp is just over a megawatt. Plenty of built GM LS, Coyote and Chrysler HEmi motors turning that nowdays in entry level track cars.
” And, on the oval they will be able to sling shot out of the turns leaving gas fueled cars in the dust.”
Maybe on a short track, but on an intermediate or superspeedway the cars don’t really slow down much. OTOH, what you describe above would be a definite advantage on a road course.
“Yeh, EV’s will have to be a class of its on. “
NASCAR is running Mustang, Camaro and Camry. About the only difference between them is the decals.