Toyota Mirai paces Richmond, VA NASCAR race

I saw that on today's race. It must be able to run at the 100+ mph needed to pace a Nascar race.

 

Since when ?
Speeds never get that high until the green flag goes down.

 

Ahhhhh! It makes sense now.

The Prius 10 second 0-60 mph acceleration time 'is the enemy.' The goal is to make the FCV at least competitive with the Jetta TDI. Some of us have known for some time the 'instant' torque gives the electric motor a street advantage.

So what do we know about their portable, hydrogen filling system?

Bob Wilson

 

Offhand, I think the speed limit for the pace car at Richmond is around 45mph.

 

I was going to say around 60 but that might be at the bigger tracks.

Anybody here, besides me, going to 'Dega this weekend ??

 

Toyota's using the Mirai as a pace car at another NASCAR race. This time, it's at Sonoma.

 

There sure are a lot of vents on the front of this car! Are all of these vents functional and critical to the operation of a fuel cell vehicle? Is there duct work running along the sides of the car, ending in a big diffuser at the rear, to aid in low cd and added down force for stellar handling? Do fuel cell vehicles have to take on a unique look to function? Is this design unique looking just to be unique? It sure is working on me, I have so many questions.

 

COOL, thanks for sharing!

DBCassidy

 

I believe some of the vents are blocked off.

A FCEV may need a larger air intake than an ICE; its operation doesn't produce the suction for pulling in air that an ICE does. Not sure on the Mirai's specifics, but they generally use an air compressor to supply the air. A pro for Hyundai's system is that they eliminated the compressor, which improves reliability and reduces noise.