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Reader Comments for
Subscribe to this threadHybrid Toyota Supra Wins Tokachi 24-Hour race
(Page 1 of 1)
Dave D @ Jul 16th 2007 7:27PM
I think this is great news, congratulations to Toyota. This is clearly a car configured and tuned for racing, but if it helps dispel the myth that hybrids and/or EV's can't perform then it's worth while. Most people I talk with still have no idea that electric motors can do anything more than drive a golf cart.
The part that I find most interesting is that they used in-wheel motors on the front. It's been well publicized that the guys at Tesla, and others, say that the unsprung weight this adds would make the handling "terrible", at least according to them. Now it shows up in a winning race car. Interesting.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the guys at Tesla and what they are doing, but perhaps they can be wrong on some issues as well.
Does anyone know if they still retain the friction brakes in front, or did they reduce the overall unsprung weight by using only regenerative breaks in front? Would that even be possible with today's technology in something as demanding as racing?
Dave