Electric Nascar

Just to sidestep a bit:
ABB has the side graphics of the electric car in the linked article....great.
It's a cutting edge tech company which makes big infrastructure. ABB made the rocking Amtrack cars which, by rocking, can make better time on aged track. They make other stuff also.

These are the companies which should be laying out "plans" for the modernization of society.
Fools reading 20-30 second "news clips" aren't doing it.
Perhaps some of the wastefulness caused by stupid people saying and thinking stupid polarizing things could be averted.

It's really sad that car companies and blunt advertising bodies like NASCAR front our knowledge base on these matters.

I suppose I have to put my flame suit on.....
 
Nascar has evolved so far away from its stock car origins that this can only be seen as a logical progression.
Who would have thought that their premier series cars would actually make less power than many strong street cars, but that's the reality of today's Nascar.
 
I think another big problem is the generation gap between Bill France Sr. (who envisioned and "invented" NASCAR), and built it into what it became. And the kids who are running it now, and have been fed from silver spoons all their lives.

And they have more or less abandoned and mismanaged the grass roots of the sport. Now we have what is more or less a smorgasbord of racing that appeals to a very few of the diehards, and at the same time entices no new blood to join in.

This silly stage racing, and a points system that Einstein would have trouble understanding, are just a few of all the self created issues NASCAR has evolved into. In a nutshell, they've made a mess of it all.
 
The OP article makes me want to throw-up.
"sustainability" "less fuel to burn" in a fire? Really? "clean energy"
If the above are concerns then ban the sport! PERIOD nothing can make racing earth friendly. My god, the "earth" agenda and fact that people actually think this is sincere.

We have entered the age that political agenda is now entering and regulating every part of our lives and the public rolls over. The corporations and pop tarts in the industries and sports, eat it up and promote it, not knowing they are puppets in a mental game.
(no politics_
 
Right, any change in anything can never be for the better but can only be driven by some agenda and never a desire for innovation and improvement.
 
There is no battery in the world that can make this worthwhile at oval tracks like Daytona. Even a true
'high drain' 200kWh, 3000 pound battery can only produce 700HP for a matter of minutes.

Dialing it back to conserve battery power will be akin to watching a showroom stock Toyota Camry lap the track, silent, slow and not worth watching.
 
I wonder if it would be possible for an electric "top fuel dragster" to ever be a thing. I could see that maybe being something worth watching on TV, especially if they could become faster than the conventional ICE version.

Hit the go button, hang on for dear life, deploy the parachute 3 or less seconds later.

Of course there is something to be said for the intense thundering noise and shockwaves and fire that shoots out of the headers that would be missed, even if the old-school top-fuel cars were eventually found to be slower, but I could see them being added to the mix of dragsters and funny cars and motorcycles that all take turns competing at events like this.
 
Last edited:
MParr said:
They are already done.
Click to expand...

I still enjoy Nascar, but for the life of me I can't figure out why anyone thinks Toyota Camrys should be there competing against Mustangs and Camaros.

In my opinion, if Toyota Camrys are going to be there, they should be forced to be front wheel drive like the real ones.

Part of the historical draw of Nascar was that the cars were almost the same as what you could buy from your local dealer. Now they want you to cheer for rear wheel drive Camrys with big V8s in them and one lug nut per wheel that have absolutely nothing in common with anything that anyone can have out in the real world.
 
andrew_j said:
Reality is NASCAR has had steady decline in fan base since 2005. Clearly more of same is not answer.

They need to work out a pivot.
Click to expand...
Yes. I can remember when you had to know somebody to get tickets to Richmond or Martinsville. Always sold out. Now broadcasters announce sell-outs and you see empty seats and whole sections covered so you can't see empty seats.
 
captainbeandip said:
I still enjoy Nascar, but for the life of me I can't figure out why anyone thinks Toyota Camrys should be there competing against Mustangs and Camaros.

In my opinion, if Toyota Camrys are going to be there, they should be forced to be front wheel drive like the real ones.

Part of the historical draw of Nascar was that the cars were almost the same as what you could buy from your local dealer. Now they want you to cheer for rear wheel drive Camrys with big V8s in them and one lug nut per wheel that have absolutely nothing in common with anything that anyone can have out in the real world.
Click to expand...
I don't follow NASCAR or any car racing for that matter. Question: are any of the cars similar to their make sponsors? My guess is no, but again I don't pretend to have any understanding of NASCAR. Thanks in advance.
 
JeffKeryk said:
I don't follow NASCAR or any car racing for that matter. Question: are any of the cars similar to their make sponsors? My guess is no, but again I don't pretend to have any understanding of NASCAR. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

There are 3 cars that currently compete in the "Nascar Cup" series. Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro (which Chevrolet doesn't even make anymore), and Toyota Camry. They all have carbon fiber bodies now, and stickers instead of headlights and tail lights, and their dimensions are different, but they do still mostly look like their commonly available counterparts.
 
billt460 said:
I'm guessing that, along with swapping out the entire car is somehow faster.
Click to expand...
My guess is the battery is part of the structure to save cost and making it swappable will be a compromise to safety or weight.

My problem is not that it is electric but it is a crossover that is modified to be a racer, not sexy.
 
captainbeandip said:
I still enjoy Nascar, but for the life of me I can't figure out why anyone thinks Toyota Camrys should be there competing against Mustangs and Camaros.

In my opinion, if Toyota Camrys are going to be there, they should be forced to be front wheel drive like the real ones.

Part of the historical draw of Nascar was that the cars were almost the same as what you could buy from your local dealer. Now they want you to cheer for rear wheel drive Camrys with big V8s in them and one lug nut per wheel that have absolutely nothing in common with anything that anyone can have out in the real world.
Click to expand...
cars are skin only..underneath they are just about the same...
 
captainbeandip said:
I still enjoy Nascar, but for the life of me I can't figure out why anyone thinks Toyota Camrys should be there competing against Mustangs and Camaros.

In my opinion, if Toyota Camrys are going to be there, they should be forced to be front wheel drive like the real ones.

Part of the historical draw of Nascar was that the cars were almost the same as what you could buy from your local dealer. Now they want you to cheer for rear wheel drive Camrys with big V8s in them and one lug nut per wheel that have absolutely nothing in common with anything that anyone can have out in the real world.
Click to expand...
NASCAR started going downhill when they went to tubular frame construction, and got away from actual factory produced, "stock cars". It used to be a rule in NASCAR that you had to have at least 500 production vehicles sold, licensed, and on the road, before you could race that particular model.

This is what gave us the BOSS 429 Mustangs, and the Dodge Charger Daytona, and the Plymouth Superbirds. They basically blueprinted the engines, welded in a roll cage, and took out anything that wasn't needed. Carpeting, radios, speakers, ash trays, etc.

This is why NASCAR was FASTER in 1969 on the super speedways, than it is today. In the 1969 Talladega 500 Bobby Isaac had many laps that averaged over 200 MPH. Today, over a half a century later, they're lucky if they break 190 MPH.

Now granted the move to tubular frames was for safety. Production vehicles off the assembly line were never meant to be crashed into concrete walls at 200 MPH, and have anyone survive the aftermath. And a lot of the early NASCAR champions died as a result of wrecks.

Other safety items like self sealing fuel bladders helped in preventing drivers from getting burned. One lug wheel attachments like Formula 1, helps in preventing wheels from coming off, and eliminated 20 lug nuts from flying all over the pits, every time a car came in for tires.

But now it's simply gone too far. NASCAR states that engines have to be of V-8 pushrod design. But as you mentioned, Toyota never put one in a transverse mounted, front wheel drive Camry. Toyota was let into NASCAR because of $$$$$. Nothing more.

You can only drift just so far from your roots, before you change something into what it no longer represents. And THAT is what has happened to NASCAR. All one has to do is look at the empty seats in the stands on race day.
 
captainbeandip said:
There are 3 cars that currently compete in the "Nascar Cup" series. Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro (which Chevrolet doesn't even make anymore), and Toyota Camry. They all have carbon fiber bodies now, and stickers instead of headlights and tail lights, and their dimensions are different, but they do still mostly look like their commonly available counterparts.
Click to expand...
hrv said:
cars are skin only..underneath they are just about the same...
Click to expand...
So, if the relationship to the mass produced cars is only skin deep, then I suggest it makes zero difference what you call them.
My guess is, it's all about sponsorship.
 
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