Took the Prius Drag Racing!

[hdrygas]

I remember a long time ago in College when my roommate took his SAAB 850 to the drags, on a bet. He did quite well because his handy cap with a 850cc 2 cycle engine against 289, 357 , 487 cubic in engines. They would see him close to the finish line a jump the clock. The promoters gave him back his entry fee and invited us all back! We had a great few weeks until winter set in! BTW my roommate drives a cobra in the SCCA race circuit. I will post a picture when I can find it!

[Anubis]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(F8L @ Aug 27 2006, 06:56 PM) [snapback]310340[/snapback]</div>

Anubis, I am definately going to try that next time out. I was launching with about half bars and by the end of a run I was down to about 2 bars. If I can get it to full bars I might have a better 60' which would drop my ET nicely (1.75-2 10ths of a second in ET for every 10/th in 60') I'll wait until I can get somewhat cooler temps and a lot less gas although Im not sure where the pump is in our tanks so I dont wanna go too low and starve the pump with my savage G forces upon launch LMAO![/b]

Yes, those G-forces really got my cheeks back around my ears -- oh wait, I think that was just my cheesy grin when the announcer at the track saw my brother and me lined up at the tree. He started saying things like, "this is going to be like a ride at Disneyland!" and "we've never had hybrid cars race here before -- sit back and take a nap until they get through..." and other funny stuff like that!

My brother mentioned that by running up the bars like that, that our (*something ... solenoid? servo? maybe an entirely different word? I couldn't picture what he was talking about, so it didn't stay with me*) was probably getting overheated which was probably why our times were getting slower on our later runs. As soon as I can get a hold of him, I'll ask him if he remembers what he was talking about back then...

However, I'm not sure how having full bars versus having half-full bars would increase your 60' time. Doesn't the motor put out the same amount of assistance to the engine so long as there is some battery to power it? I'm sure the car's computer would adjust it a bit (just like it adjusts how much regen it puts to the battery based on the current charge level of the battery pack), but only if you were down to 2 bars already...or am I way off base here? My brother is the electric car guru, but I can't get a hold of him right now to ask him, and anyway he's still learning about the Prius' hybrid technology (he has an electric truck he built, but the dual power of the Prius has lots of fun things to explore for him still).

Also, what about the Octane issue? I thought that the Prius worked better on the lower Octane gasolines, and that the lower the altitude, the higher the Octane could be. Oh wait, you're in Sacramento, so you're already at a lower altitude than I am here in Northern Utah. Don't you guys have 95+ Octane levels? I seem to remember higher Octane numbers in Los Angeles years ago. Here in Utah, pretty much the highest Octane we have is 91 (that's at all the Chevrons I frequent) unless you go to airplane fuel -- which I think would melt our little ICEs.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(F8L @ Aug 27 2006, 06:56 PM) [snapback]310340[/snapback]</div>

Lola, could be although a lot of girls go out there and race their cars
[/b]

That would be me! Vrooom Vrooom, Baby!!

[F8L]

California has some of the most oxygenated gas around lol. 91 octane is the highest you can buy normally with a few stations selling race gas (100 octane) at the pump. Anything higher has to be bought at race shops.

The Prius normally does work best on 87 octane but if the engine is getting heat soaked and the ambient temps get high enough you could start to have knock retard issues (the computer sense knock and pulls timing). At least thats how most modern performance cars work. It just seemed odd that the car woould lose nearly 3mph and 5 10ths with only a 10deg temp change. So buy using higher octane I can see if it is fuel related or if there is something with our hyvrid system that creates this problem since you guys had similar issues. My DA couldnt have changed so drastically as to cause this problem.

Let us know what your brother has to say about launching on a full battery as opposed to the low battery

[daronspicher]

I guess this is going to sound weird, but I had my Impalla 454 super charged drag racing car out this weekend and I was working the pulse and glide to hypermile my way to and from work. My stats:


Best mpg: 3.8 mpg
speed: 42.11 avg
Light tailwind.


Worst mpg: 1.9 mpg
speed: 181.9 avg
Light headwind.

I just thought it was wacky how you were drag racing with your Prius and I was hypermiling with my race car.

[F8L]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Aug 28 2006, 02:49 AM) [snapback]310467[/snapback]</div>

I guess this is going to sound weird, but I had my Impalla 454 super charged drag racing car out this weekend and I was working the pulse and glide to hypermile my way to and from work. My stats:
Best mpg: 3.8 mpg
speed: 42.11 avg
Light tailwind.
Worst mpg: 1.9 mpg
speed: 181.9 avg
Light headwind.

I just thought it was wacky how you were drag racing with your Prius and I was hypermiling with my race car.


[/b]

LMAO!!

181mph? Thats about a 7.80-8.10 ET isnt it?

[Ray Moore]

When we ran ours we turned 17.8 seconds at 87 mph. We force charged to 8 bars as we were getting ready to make our run. This was at night at the Houston Raceway. Each time got slower. We think the inverter and battery were getting hotter and that was increasing the internal resistance and reducing the amount of electrical power we could utilize. We thought about letting it rest so the electrical components could cool but the engine would have cooled too. I guess a can-view would help figure all this out.

[efusco]

So, just for reference, what would a 'normal' car get on a run like this...say a Camry V6 or an Accord? How about something slightly sportier...a mustang, a Crossfire or Audi TT? And finally something fast like a Viper or 'Vette?

[Anubis]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ray Moore @ Aug 28 2006, 06:57 AM) [snapback]310486[/snapback]</div>

When we ran ours we turned 17.8 seconds at 87 mph. We force charged to 8 bars as we were getting ready to make our run. This was at night at the Houston Raceway. Each time got slower. We think the inverter and battery were getting hotter and that was increasing the internal resistance and reducing the amount of electrical power we could utilize. We thought about letting it rest so the electrical components could cool but the engine would have cooled too. I guess a can-view would help figure all this out.
[/b]

I finally got a hold of my brother and he mentioned he thought the stator motor was getting a little warm. He described exactly what you said, that wires will see an increase in DC resistance as their temperature increases, which is what may have been affecting the current to the motor (and thereby the motor's assisting torque applied to our wheels).

Another thought he had was that his VSC/Traction Control was backing his car off as we left the line in later races as the "water" (the wet stuff on the track before the starting line to assist in traction -- I don't remember what he called it) was no longer as effective and therefore our tires were beginning to slip. As I think about it, I seem to recall feeling a little of that (almost like a "miss" or hesitation in the engine) and there wasn't quite as much pull when I punched it, but when I glanced down to my idiot lights, nothing was lit up. I had assumed that since it was spreading out over the track it was acting like plain water and we were being adversely affected because our tires weren't "hot" (since we didn't/couldn't spin our tires in the stuff before each race). That, or because I was playing with my parking brake so much in the last three races (and having to keep the engine a little backed off so it wouldn't drive through the parking brake and therefore was not getting the full throttle as quickly off the line) that I might not have noticed the initial weight shift as the car started moving.

On those CAN-VIEWs, is there a way to record the data flow from them for a race? Can you hook up a laptop to get all the information from all the screens for a short period of time like that? That would be cool. My brother who races his Monte Carlo has an ignition system in his car which is monitored and adjusted with the use of a laptop and some custom software. I'm thinking that if you can hook up a laptop to record all that data, that would be another great reason to get a CAN-VIEW. Yeah, that would be cool.

[efusco]

Can-View won't really act as a recorder that can display second by second data, but you can reset it so that it will display minimum and maximums for almost all information (kW, Amps, HP, voltages, etc).

I have a program called Dynoscan that will, indeed, graph the speed, HP, rpm, and other similar data that is found on standard/non-hybrids. But, it doesn't read any of the hybrid specific info such as the battery info, inverter temps, etc.

[Anubis]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Aug 28 2006, 03:49 AM) [snapback]310467[/snapback]</div>

I just thought it was wacky how you were drag racing with your Prius and I was hypermiling with my race car.[/b]

Now that IS funny!

Sounds a little similar to my situation: my previous vehicle was a 1994 Dodge Caravan (the short one) with 218,000 miles on it. I had people tell me I drove it "like a sports car." They were right, I drove it like a zippy little car, going quickly around corners (but always staying in my lane, never swinging it wide like 99% of the drivers here in Utah do -- I like the "precision" of driving), and fearlessly changing into lanes I require for an exit and accelerating rapidly out of the way when huge SUVs were romping on their pedals in an effort to cut me off the moment I turned on my blinker... (I didn't hold any resentment -- most minivan drivers here in Utah are distracted by the kids [or buddies] in the back and have no power either in their engines or their right feet, and therefore are many times slow and unpredictable, and I certainly didn't like being stuck behind one of them, either).

And now, I am rarely found in the fast lane, I am still zipping around corners, but I no longer accelerate through them, and I no longer jockey for position and jump from light to light in town. Now I drive like someone would normally drive in a taller, heavier car.

Not quite as extreme (and hilarious ) as you're driving experience, but weird nonetheless!