Hydrogen 500: The world's first hydrogen race coming in 2009
AutoblogGreen just ran a story we wanted to make sure all of our readers were aware of, so we're running it here, too. It looks like the days of hybrids being seen by some people as pure exercises in extended fuel economy are numbered. Maybe someday soon people will start to associate fuel-cell hybrids with high performance and even, dare we say it, racing.
It seems that hybrids will be hitting the track soon. A new racing series run by the recently founded Hydrogen Electric Racing Federation was announced on Wednesday. The series hopes to stage its first races by 2009. As you may have guessed, the cars in this series will be electric hybrids powered by hydrogen.
Autoextremist founder/publisher Peter M. DeLorenzo is the President and CEO of the new organization. And this isn't some rinky-dink egghead endeavor, either. Executives from Bridgestone-Firestone and Michelin, Indy Car's own Tony George, and Scott Atherton, President and CEO of the American Le Mans Series are behind this new series. It looks like a pretty powerful group. At the center of the series will be the Hydrogen 500. Click over to AB Green for the rest of the story and additional links. We'll certainly keep you posted as more info becomes available.
[Source: AB Green]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Scott 11:27PM (1/12/2007)
What happens when Fox tries to cover this and someone realizes they can't do the 'Crank It Up' segment which they use in NASCAR? I guess they'll have to fill that air time with a few more minutes of some yokel yammering a stupid catchphrase or two. I'm looking squarely at you Darrell Waltrip.
It's a great idea though. Hopefully it does well enough to sustain itself as a viable series. Considering how automakers can trickle down racing advancements into passenger cars a lot of good could come from this. Plus the idea of racing hydro/electric cars twiddles my nerd buttons.
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proud like cow 1:29AM (1/14/2007)
great idea, cant happen soon enough. the fastest way to get all this tech on the streets is thru competition
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Joshua 2:21AM (1/13/2007)
Awesome! Motorsports is the perfect venue to spur interest in green tech. Unfortunately greenies often seem to have a reflex aversion to having fun with engines, but this stuff is great because it shows everyone that being green doesn't require that you be a techno masochist.
The Hollywood ending here would be if a bunch of corporately funded university teams are blown away by a shade tree mechanic who slaps a turbocharger and a propane throttle body on an old striped out Honda insight. Hmmm...
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Saab analyst 8:25AM (1/13/2007)
Jolly of joys what a spectacle it would be. Massive hydrogen fireball explosions ripping cars apart!
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Brian 9:20AM (1/13/2007)
Whats the big deal? Just another racing series with cars powered by fossil fuels.
The bulk of Hydrogen produced today comes from natural gas.
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Neo.Luxembourg 3:09AM (1/15/2007)
Whats the big deal? Just another racing series with cars powered by fossil fuels.
The bulk of Hydrogen produced today comes from natural gas.
Yeah, but it's the same to produce the gas out of petrolium !
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Robert 4:44PM (1/21/2007)
Hybrid electric/gas engines are a staging ground to building electric drives because those same electric drive systems will be powered by h2 fuel cells later on. similarly, the fact that much of the current supply of h2 comes from natural gas serves as a logical step in an economy that is fueled by h2, which can be sourced many ways. when the economics to providing free-energy based h2 make sense, they will be built.
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