Well it was just a matter of time before this happened. I work at a dragstrip where everyone races cars with massive cubic inch engines. Well tonight they are going to face my Prius. Since I work here I can't race it, but it will be raced by a guy with over 20 years racing experience, and I'm mostly interested in getting some time runs just to see how fast it goes. The car will be bracket racing, a form of drag racing where the drivers each make a prediction as to how fast their car will go, and the closest to their prediction wins. It will also be in the Sport Compact class, where it will be facing Supra's WRX's Neons, Civics, Eclipses etc... I'll post some ET slips when it's all over, and you can watch the race via our webcam at http://www.norwalkraceway.com/video and cheer the Prius on!! Racing starts about 5:30 EST and goes all night.
No, I can't have the car run slicks because they aren't permitted in the Sport Compact Class. I have taken a bit of the air out of the tires to get more grip off the starting line.
Skraut, I just tuned into the live streaming and think I saw your caR! The video is pretty low quality but it looked like a Prius.... Hope you had fun....
Let me make a suggestion. Keep the tires aired up to near the max as tire spin won't be as significant as rolling resistance. Try it in the parking lot first to test this. Let out some air if it proves to be an issue. A full battery will be the most significant factor. The way to charge the battery to the top of it's range is to hold down on the brake and trottle at the same time. This will force the generator to charge the battery and the rpm will slowly drop as you approach a full charge. Keep in mind that charging and discharging the battery will cause it to heat up and will thus limit it's operational efficiency. Charge the battery and then allow time for it to cool. The engine should of course be fully warmed up. A practice run will be counter-productive to haveing a cool battery for the actual run. I have not run mine yet but I intend to soon, down in Houston. These are all educated guesses. I hope they help if you choose to use them. I expect someone to warn of the dangers of holding down the gas and brake to charge the battery. I think the computer can direct the systems to play nice together. Good Luck. Beat 18 seconds and 0-60 in under 10 seconds.
Well the Prius won the first round, but lost the second. The driver had a hard time judging hesitation between the pedal hitting the floor and the car launching. Here's the best times: Code: 60'     2.711 330'     7.501 1/8mi    11.431 mph     62.96 1000'    14.812 1/4mi    17.685 mph     77.45 The car ran very consistantly, it was just that hesitation that caused problems. For those that wondered I reset the MPG counter before he started racing, and the car got 21mpg in race conditions. Pretty impressive actually considering many cars out here measure their fuel in Gallons Per Mile...
I suspect the 'hesitation' is appearance rather than actual, as the ICE doesn't kick in right away giving you feedback, but MG2 should be rolling silently immediately.
I actually rode with the driver on a pass before we started this, and he got good at keeping the gas down partly, and pulling up to the starting line with the break. This kept the ICE on the entire time, so when the tree dropped he had both engines pulling. I just wonder if the computer took a fraction of a second (in drag racing wins and losses are often a matter of a thousandth of a second, it takes a tenth of a second to blink your eye) to engage the CVT and both engines. Each bulb on the starting line "Christmas Tree" turns on a half second after the other. Normally with most cars you hit the gas as the third light comes on, and by the time the Green light comes on your car has rolled forward a a few inches and crosses the starting line at the same moment. With the Prius the driver was having to hit the gas just after the second bulb lit, and it was probably more of a problem of him fighting his old habit. The car ran very consistantly, which is whats important, and the aerodynamics helps it quite a bit (as opposed to many "Muscle Cars" which have to adjust their times based on how the wind is affecting their brick like aerodynamics) I may try it out some more, but it was cool to see the Prius at least get 1 round win
The ICE would have been running at launch if the car was in b rather than drive. The delay in ICE startup would be eliminated and the power used to spin it up most likely would have gone to the wheels.
Perhaps the best launch technique would be to place the car in "B", and force charge with brake and gas, keep pedal floored, then release brake at third light for a full power launch. There's enough traction where one wouldn't have to be concerned with wheelspin.
Wheelspin would cause the traction control (or VSC?) to kick in, cutting power to the wheels. I noticed substantial hesitation when accelerating hard when the tires lose traction.
