RE: Pikes Peak: Monster Tajima goes electric

[hairykrishna]

Fair enough. The results skewing thing is not really the fault of the power plant though. Audi were already well into throwing enormous amounts of money and 'skewing the results' before the diesels.

[cazzer]

True, but the diesel is just a cynical marketing ploy. Nothing to do with "racing"

[JonRB]

cazzer said:

True, but the diesel is just a cynical marketing ploy. Nothing to do with "racing"

The regulations currently favour diesel such that a petrol car is unlikely to get an outright win. Audi are chasing for an outright win. What do you expect them to do??

[davepoth]

JonRB said:

The regulations currently favour diesel such that a petrol car is unlikely to get an outright win. Audi are chasing for an outright win. What do you expect them to do??

Slip the ACO a massive brown envelope and get the rules changed; I understand that's how motorsport usually works.

[KDIcarmad]

cazzer said:

hairykrishna said:

cazzer said:

A large section of the racegoing public don't want diesel at le-mans or electric cars at pikes peak, not because they're luddites, but it isn't entertaining.

What utter nonsense. 14 second gap between 1st and 2nd at Le Mans last year after a solid 24 hours of close racing. Both diesels. You think that's not entertaining? Why?

Because the result was a foregone conclusion.
It would be a diesel. Not sure which one. But one of em.

They're dull, sound bloody awful, and skew the results.
How close was the nearest petrol engine?

No race is ever a foregone conclusion, Le Mans more so as it 24 hours. Looking at F1 we all the winner will come from one of 4 teams 9 times out of 10. Still millions watch it.

As to petrol cars being better than diesel, that's a personal matter. The reg currently suit diesel cars, so build a diesel or improve the range of the petrol to equall there fuel range.

[cazzer]

KDIcarmad said:

cazzer said:

hairykrishna said:

cazzer said:

A large section of the racegoing public don't want diesel at le-mans or electric cars at pikes peak, not because they're luddites, but it isn't entertaining.

What utter nonsense. 14 second gap between 1st and 2nd at Le Mans last year after a solid 24 hours of close racing. Both diesels. You think that's not entertaining? Why?

Because the result was a foregone conclusion.
It would be a diesel. Not sure which one. But one of em.

They're dull, sound bloody awful, and skew the results.
How close was the nearest petrol engine?

No race is ever a foregone conclusion, Le Mans more so as it 24 hours. Looking at F1 we all the winner will come from one of 4 teams 9 times out of 10. Still millions watch it.

As to petrol cars being better than diesel, that's a personal matter. The reg currently suit diesel cars, so build a diesel or improve the range of the petrol to equall there fuel range.

I thought racing was about being the "fastest" not being the most economical.

[Mastodon2]

I'm disappointed to see one of my favourite competition cars taking a year off in place of an electric car. Hopefully Tajima will come back in the petrol next year.

I have to agree about the Le Mans cars too - I love the screaming petrols, but I have no interest in watching a load of clattery diesels chug around the track, no matter how fast they are. When I think back to the awesome CLR cars that Mercedes ran, the 911 GT1s, McLaren F1s, the Jaguar XJR-12, and my favourite, the Mazda 787B, it's almost sickening to look at the recent results of Audi and Peugeot duelling their smoke boxes at hat was once one of the world's most spectacular races. The diesel cars sound disgraceful too - much like a road derv with a "sports" exhaust on it sounds like a tractor trying to retrieve a stuck wheel from a ditch, the loud diesels at Le Mans sound absolutely horrible.

While I'm disappointed in seeing Tajima driving an electric at Pike's peak, I'd rather him drive that than a diesel. At least an electric Pikes Peak car will be quieter and blow less smog!

[arkenphel]

I dunno why, but I justice the mental picture of Mr. Monster driving TopGear's Eagle eye-thrust electric car thing up Pikes's peak. Lol

[Gorbyrev]

Nice of you guys to give Tajimasan a plug! Sorry - it's late!!!

[Apretext]

Re: Diesels at Le mans,
When Audi brought the first Diesel to Le Mans, the ACO put massive penalties on the petrol cars (I seem to remember it was upping the minimum weight considerably) so that the Diesels could be competitive. Oddly, there was an awful lot of Audi sponsorship that year.....

Thats what annoys me, and I suspect a lot of others about Diesels at Le Mans, the rules have been changed to favour Diesel cars.

It should be a level playing field, if someone wants to bring in new technology, great, but those running something else should not be forced to change unless the new way is actually better.

As for Electric car at Pikes peak, well, in fairness he has won so many times, I guess he wants a new challenge. As long as the organisers don't say "Sorry guys, because of the weight of Monsters car's batterys, you now all have to have 300KG of ballast", then go him.

[thinfourth2]

cazzer said:

I thought racing was about being the "fastest" not being the most economical.

But to be the fastest you also want to be the lightest

To be the lightest you want to carry as little fuel as possible

To carry as little fuel as possible then you want to be the one that uses the most amount of fuel as quickly as possible

[RB Will]

Wrong. At LeMans you want better economy so you don't have to pit as much. Or you could carry a lighter fuel load and go just as far

[thinfourth2]

RB Will said:

Wrong. At LeMans you want better economy so you don't have to pit as much. Or you could carry a lighter fuel load and go just as far

Rubbish

If you have 150Kg of fuel onboard you want to get rid of it as quickly as possible so you can be the fastest.

Why do you think racing cars must have bag tanks

Its to stop folk drilling holes in them and cheating

[KDIcarmad]

thinfourth2 said:

RB Will said:

Wrong. At LeMans you want better economy so you don't have to pit as much. Or you could carry a lighter fuel load and go just as far

Rubbish

If you have 150Kg of fuel onboard you want to get rid of it as quickly as possible so you can be the fastest.

Why do you think racing cars must have bag tanks

Its to stop folk drilling holes in them and cheating

LeMans is about distance covered in 24 hours, not who is the quickest on any given lap. Audi cars win by staying on the track, losing less time in the pits. Economy is also now a part of F1, most if not all F1 car star the race without the fuel need to finish if driven flat out for the whole, they at some point in the race have to drive to improve range. Or run out of fuel! Racing is not about flat out performance, it is about winning the race.

The funny thing is that diesel also dominant Class 1 powerboat for a few years. The rules suited them, so they won. A friend pointed out that Group C regulation were base around fuel rule and how much the car used. Funny that!

Now stop moaning about the wrong fuel, wrong sound and just enjoy the racing.

[cazzer]

No, because the wrong fuel, wrong sound, wrong smell ruins the whole thing.

Like I said, I'll stick the to classic and leave you to yer oil burner racing.

[clarkey328is]

Are we sure this isn´t something they have been pressured into doing by a sponsor? We were looking at doing formula student as part of our uni course but could only find sponsorship if we were to build an electric vehicle. Needless to say, nobody was interested.

[swifthobo]

My favourite Tajima car. And fair play to him trying something different he has always pushed the boundaries of the event and that is why he is the king of it.

However like some one said it is a shame that he is not in a fire breathing 1000hp monter but most gents of his age are driving an electric vehicle like this haha.

[k-ink]

It was bad enough when F1 cars lost the V12 soundtrack. Now we look into a future with no soundtrack at all. I forsee motorsport on the whole will no longer appeal to live audiences. The end is nigh. Have a zero from me.

[rwindmill]

Apretext said:

Re: Diesels at Le mans,
When Audi brought the first Diesel to Le Mans, the ACO put massive penalties on the petrol cars (I seem to remember it was upping the minimum weight considerably) so that the Diesels could be competitive. Oddly, there was an awful lot of Audi sponsorship that year.....

Thats what annoys me, and I suspect a lot of others about Diesels at Le Mans, the rules have been changed to favour Diesel cars.

It should be a level playing field, if someone wants to bring in new technology, great, but those running something else should not be forced to change unless the new way is actually better.

As for Electric car at Pikes peak, well, in fairness he has won so many times, I guess he wants a new challenge. As long as the organisers don't say "Sorry guys, because of the weight of Monsters car's batterys, you now all have to have 300KG of ballast", then go him.

I can appreciate what you are saying, but look at it this way. Suppose you were a car manufacturer and you wanted to bring a new technology to the race track. Would you do it if you knew you were going to be hoplessly uncompetitive for the first few years??? Do you think the board members of your car company would underwrite such a venture, knowing there would be no victories, no positive media coverage until you had perfected the technology and made it competitive.

Skewing the playing field in favour of new technologies encourages people to actually bring them in. I agree, that it is unfair for all those competitors that use existing technologies, but if the advantage is properly weighted, then you can have good close racing and also bring on progress.

If this isnt done, all that will happen is that the racing will stagnate and nobody will do anything new.

[RB Will]

thinfourth2 said:

Rubbish

If you have 150Kg of fuel onboard you want to get rid of it as quickly as possible so you can be the fastest.

Why do you think racing cars must have bag tanks

Its to stop folk drilling holes in them and cheating

Thought that was to stop them cracking and causing fires in a crash.