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Probably a fine setup for optimising straight-line acceleration and 0-400 times, with questionable track performance. A conventional high-performance car is abl

Probably a fine setup for optimising straight-line acceleration and 0-400 times, with questionable track performance. A conventional high-performance car is able to make use of the engine torque at any time by shifting to the appropriate gear and keeping the engine in a narrow rev-range. This, on the other hand relies solely on the electric motors to fill that gap before the torque peak at, say, 250 km/h.

arghwhat 8y ago
I'd argue the exact opposite. A conventional high-performance car will struggle with its lacking acceleration and narrow optimal rev-range. Every shift is a performance penalty, and the transmission itself is inefficient. It's only really acceptable for straight-line 0-400, where the shift range is only gone through once, and even then it's often too much, with people preferring two-speed transmissions for drag. For a real race, it becomes extremely wasteful. The only benefit of a conventional setup is the ability to handle extreme top-speeds that direct-drive will have difficulty with. However, in most races you're quite far from 400km/h, making this benefit useless. Instead, you constantly need immediate acceleration and power from variable speeds, which an ICE with transmission will always struggle with. While this particular car is not that impressive performance-wise, it's tuned for racing, not top-speed. An purely electric racer will run circles around it, with their only downside being tendencies to battery overheating for certain races. On that note, see VW's recent pike's peak record: https://electrek.co/2018/06/21/vw-all-electric-race-car-fastest-time-in-pikes-peak-qualifying-round/ https://electrek.co/2018/06/21/vw-all-electric-race-car-fast....
- sandworm101 8y ago
  But nobody is saying that conventional is better. They are saying that this rig could be improved.
  - arghwhat 8y ago
    It would appear that someone is suggesting that a conventional transmission would be an improvement, which I find unlikely. But yes, it can be massively improved. IIRC, this car is beat in acceleration by a Tesla Model S P100D, which isn't exactly a supercar.

arghwhat 8y ago

I'd argue the exact opposite. A conventional high-performance car will struggle with its lacking acceleration and narrow optimal rev-range. Every shift is a performance penalty, and the transmission itself is inefficient. It's only really acceptable for straight-line 0-400, where the shift range is only gone through once, and even then it's often too much, with people preferring two-speed transmissions for drag. For a real race, it becomes extremely wasteful. The only benefit of a conventional setup is the ability to handle extreme top-speeds that direct-drive will have difficulty with. However, in most races you're quite far from 400km/h, making this benefit useless. Instead, you constantly need immediate acceleration and power from variable speeds, which an ICE with transmission will always struggle with. While this particular car is not that impressive performance-wise, it's tuned for racing, not top-speed. An purely electric racer will run circles around it, with their only downside being tendencies to battery overheating for certain races. On that note, see VW's recent pike's peak record: https://electrek.co/2018/06/21/vw-all-electric-race-car-fastest-time-in-pikes-peak-qualifying-round/ https://electrek.co/2018/06/21/vw-all-electric-race-car-fast....

sandworm101 8y ago
But nobody is saying that conventional is better. They are saying that this rig could be improved.
- arghwhat 8y ago
  It would appear that someone is suggesting that a conventional transmission would be an improvement, which I find unlikely. But yes, it can be massively improved. IIRC, this car is beat in acceleration by a Tesla Model S P100D, which isn't exactly a supercar.