Hybrid Racing stories

Hey all,
not how many of you have done this, but i have found it interesting and amusing at times how many people you can get to race you in your eco car prius, i know i know it isnt what its ment to do but come on, the car has an insane amount of torque of the line and i just wanted to see what if any has any one else raced and what were the results of that.
me personaly here is my best recolection

honda civic del sol vs. Toyota prius
Victory for the prius(did this one up in sanmateo on the elcomeeno(sp?) about 2 stoplights away from the merge into one lane heading north .) B)

crotch rocket(i think it was a kawasaki.. but my recolection on what kind of jap sport bike it was is not so good ) vs prius
prius kept up with the bike through the first gear (did this one over in freemont CA heading twords the dumbarton bridge) :angry:

Mustang GT 5.0 VS. prius
(a personal note on this one, it was an up hill and around a curve race) Victory for the prius B)
(location Canada College Farm hill blvd entrence heading up to the college)

havent managed to find a element to race though i would realy love to.. alright thats my story so far

oo.. good subject

I know i races and NSX.. er.. the lower end acura on the highway.. i kept up with it.. it looked a little shakey.. i passed it in the end. hehe

I raced the 400h against a viper on a roll start.. he couldn't catch up. lol

are ya sure they're actually racing? late model sportbikes will get to 60 in first and, even with an average rider, do it in 4 seconds. :blink:

This happens to me pretty often. On my commute, there's a part where you get on the straight highway after the curve ramp. For many times, right after the ramp (I'm usually doing all electric throughout the ramp), cars will immediately change to the fast lane while I always stay in the middle lane. I guess they are trying to pass me. I just step on the gas about half way and get up to 65~70mph pretty quick. Most of the time, they will just move right behind me after they find out they can't pass me and the speed is already 70mph. I never find out what those cars are since it was dark and I only see their headlights. Occasionally, some cars do 80's and just stay in the fast lane.

prius vs 87 camry 4cyl 2.4L manual

prius won

that's what i remember him telling me anyway... :unsure:

I've had my Prius up to 107mph racing a 240sx. The 240 was faster but not by a terable amount. The Prius isnt the slowest car around but it's far from "fast". I'm curious what the top speed is. I'd imagine it could do around 120-135mph based on how easily it did 107mph. I also put the CC on at 103mph and it was getting something like 36mpg! Which is actually impressive in my opinion.

I plan on taking the prius to the track soon to see what it'll do in the 1/4. I've been reading up on how to launch it. This is what I've came up with as the best way to drag race a prius based on only what i've read:

- Charge the battery to full by holding the gas and brake all the way down till the engine shuts off.

- Launch the car in "B" mode because it will pre-load the engine to "launch"

- Of course try to have as little fuel as possible

I think I should be able to hit somewhere in the mid 17 second range. (hopefully) which is actually not bad.

yeah, it was only a short distance between 2 stoplights... but the prius atleast right off the line kept up,
btw could you theoreticaly mount a turbo on the ICE?

the prius tops out at 108... yeah.. i know.. it does 107 easy.. does 108 easy.. and you still get 15mpg... but that's it.. you can't go faster than 108.. trust me.. i tried when racing an M3 down a highway.. all downhill.. only reason he beat me ( i had low profiles on the car) is because he tops around 150.

I don't see how it would only do 108 unless it's computer limited.

It is computer limited, my speedometer was 106 or 107 at top speed. It is done to protect the ICE and MG1 and/or MG2. The Prius that turned 130+ at the salt flats had a few modifications.

Just checked my Consumer Reports auto issue from last year and they managed an 18.1 @78 mph so mid 17s is certainly a good target to shoot for. Be sure to let us know how it does.

Yes, 107 mph or ~172km/h is the max a Prius can go. It's sure slower than my Civic at computer-limited @ 120mph.

I think that's about where one of the MGs is doing almost 10K rpms.

heh i toped her out at around 110 on the dumbarton bridge .. but yeah that is definetly it.. maby just maby 1 or 2 miles quicker .. heh .. but yeah
B)

depends on if you're trailing someone or have a nice green battery.. or.. downhill..never heard above 108 before.. i'll have try for higher next time ;-)

Stock tires suck for quick acceleration. They slip pretty easy when jamming down the gas peddle, and the TRAC robs precious acceleration time.

My wife ran hers at the Houston dragstrip. She turned 17.8 seconds at 78? mph. There is a thread about it here. I agree with the full battery technique but there is a problem. When you do that the battery gets quite warm which increases internal resistance and reduces output. Your first run will be the fastest. At some point the battery gets so full that it runs the engine to reduce the SOC. All this makes for a warmer and warmer battery. I think the best strategy is to charge to 8 bars and then shut it down and let it cool for at least an hour. It might be a good idea to push it to the start line. How do you get a warm engine and a cool battery at the same time? There are definitely some inherent hurdles to getting a low drag time.

Oooohh... that would explain why my times at the Solo2 races only got a tiny bit faster.. sure.. i worked the car harder each race.. but.. it got less responsive *shrug*... i didn't even take battery warming into the whole equation.. thanks for the reminder