Racing Prius?

[racer12306]

First step is to learn about autocrossing a little. You don't want 17" wheels. Unless the car comes with 17s you want light weight 15" wheels. 205/55/15 will fit a 15x6 wheel and is only slightly shorter than stock.

The second is, this car is pathetically slow. Unless there is a hybrid class you WILL lose. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Racing a prius = epic failure

[autoxic]

Has anyone had luck autocrossing a Prius lately? I might be able to attend a local event later this year, if I can stuff my 225/45/15 Kumhos on my 2004 Prius. I still have my 2001 15" Celica OEM rims. I still have to check if the bolt pattern is the same.

I know the suspension is too soft on the Prius for fast cornering, but I don't plan to modify my car too much. I need it for my 120 mile commute still.

[racer12306]

225/45 will not be safe unless those are 7" wide wheels. also you don't need that much meat under these cars. 205 or 215 is overkill.

[autoxic]

I think the OEM Celica wheels were 15x6.5, and 225s did fit on there, safe enough for autocrossing. I'm worried they might rub the wheel wells or suspension on the Prius, or I might need spacers. The 225s were good for the Celica, but I agree the Prius might be better on skinnier tires.

[biggus]

Get the Race organisers to change the RULES.

Because of the times we are in with everyone concentrating on Oil, motorsport people should add a new category to their existing line up and introduce rules for a new competition that rations energy, this would run alongside traditional fastest time wins (no limit on Gas)

A hybrid category could limit the amount of fuel you have for a whole event. This would be a real test of skill and driving efficency. Fastest time would still win but the skill of the driver would count for more. If he could keep momentum and save energy he gets rewarded by being able to use more accelerator where it counts.

Let me give an example

If Formula 1 changed to a new rule of say a total of 200 litres of fuel Inc all testing etc for a weekend it would really cause a stir and frantic development of new technologies.

Let the car design,propulsion system, shape weight etc be a free for all.(apart from Crash worthiness)
There would be a set distance to cover in the actual race and quickest past the post would win, but ....all limited to a set amount of fuel. If you run out you lose.
Racing used to be all about technology and innovation along with driver skill. this might be a way to return to racing roots.
Le Mans 24hr race might be more suitable place to start as Diesels have won this year and last.

A watered down version of this, might just work at your autocroos events...it wouldn't hurt to ask !!!

[tnthub]

I would offer that you should give local bracket racing a chance at the local drag strip. In bracket racing as long as you can run your number and cut a good light you can win money and bring home trophies.

There may not be any corners involved and it may sound less exciting, but to compete on a level playing field with all kinds of other vehicles is exciting. Plus... Winning is far more difficult than it sounds, trust me on this...

[mattpopp]

It will not hang in it. The power needs to be delivered from the engine not the Ele. Motor. The Ele motor is the only reason it has a small amount of Torque. If you decide to race it it will spend pretty much the entire race in the engine mode and not in the Elec. mode. So at that point its not a hybrid. These cars are built to get you from Point A to Point B with good MPG's. They are not meant to be a race car, a sports car, a cool car, its just a car to save a couple of dollars at the pump.

[patsparks]

Go do it and have fun.
You don't have to race in auto-cross for trophies you can just race to improve your own times.
Do it.
Only thing that stops me doing auto-cross is I have a crap memory.

[425i]

I read a report on the plug in Prius that Toyota are testing.
Besides giving 70+ mpg its also giving 136HP
They have installed a second battery in parrallel with the first and this is the reason for the extra horsepower.
Currently Prius are running 17.8 - 17.9 quarter mile times
With the increased HP they should be good for something like 16.7

[425i]

Im not sure if this should be a new thread or not but here goes.
The only real differrence between the Otto cycle and the Atkinson cycle is the timing of the closing of the intake valve.
This raises 2 questions seeing as the prius has variable valve timing
1- If you wanted more horsepower would it be possible by reprogramming the valve timing in the ecu to change the engine from atkinson cycle to otto cycle above a certain rev range say from 3500 or 4000 rpm and above.

2-Perhaps this allready happens to some degree?
at higher rpm does the valve timing change to a more otto cycle?

The idea of a lean mean and green racing machine really appeals
If you could trim a prius down to 2200 pounds (about a 1000kg) and by changing the high rpm timing to otto and stuffing a dirty big lithium battery in the boot get a combined output of 200 whp you should have a car capable of doing quarter miles in the 12 second area
Now wouldnt that upset a lot of people
Of course it would have to have a giant 100mpg sticker right down its sides
Nick