4 ms·

It's an infinitely more sophisticated race course, if you are interested in that sort of thing. More to the point, in terms of testing an electric car there's

It's an infinitely more sophisticated race course, if you are interested in that sort of thing. More to the point, in terms of testing an electric car there's a stark difference in the amount of storage (and therefore, mass) needed to climb Pike's Peak and to climb the hill at Goodwood. If VW had to beat the Speirling's time at Goodwood tomorrow, they'd make the run with less battery storage. I honestly don't know if the Spierling could even be set up to make it all the way to the top of Pike's Peak. Their stock car surprisingly has, on paper, more battery storage than the VW (60KWh vs 40KWh) but they need to spin those giant fans... I would not want to make any guesses about how Spierling's ground effects would perform at a much higher altitude. I'll be the first to watch if they set it up as a proper race car. edit: intriguingly, a Top Gear article suggests the VW ran at Goodwood with a smaller than normal battery. No idea how the Spierling was setup. Pike's Peak, or a sprint race at any proper sports car track, would be a more realistic test for both cars. I actually don't have any doubts about who would win that, short of some very real development on Speirling's part...

jackmott42 4y ago
The McMurty as normally configured is good for 30 minute track sessions, and I haven't heard anything about it having a small battery for the day, nor did the weights being quoted indicated it was a small battery. A smaller pack could also reduce power potentially so they might not be able to do that for a net win. >I actually don't have any doubts about who would win that, short of some very real development on Speirling's part... It is a team that figured out how to absolutely shatter the goodwood record that VW had set, seems strange you are so confident they can't figure out Pikes Peak.
- justin66 4y ago
  Hey, are you there right now? Do you know if the Gen3 Formula E car Mahindra brought set a time? > seems strange you are so confident they can't figure out Pikes Peak. I meant what I said: they would need some real development to make that car into something that could win at Pike's Peak. I'm pretty sure VW spent seven figures preparing their car for that race. Don't get me wrong, I hope these guys do it. If they're taking publicity seriously, they'll do something at Nürburgring once they've made their street legal version available. Of course it would be interesting to see how the current car performs there as well.
- theluketaylor 4y ago
  Pikes Peak (especially in an electric car where altitude doesn't matter) is primarily a test of the driver. 156 corners in 12 miles is incredibly hard to learn and there are almost no safety barriers (or reference braking points). The goodwood hillclimb is simply not in the same category of complexity or challenge as Pikes Peak, which stands alone as the toughest and most dangerous hillclimb event in all of motorsport. Pikes Peak is also extremely bumpy and was only paved all the way to the top in 2011. A car like the Speirling relying on fans for downforce would really struggle to maintain grip throughout a Pikes Peak run as each bump would cause a momentary loss of aero (not dissimilar to this season's F1 porpoising issue, just bigger and worse)
oittaa 4y ago
> Top Gear article suggests Do you also get your health information from anti vaxxers and space news from moon hoaxers?
- justin66 4y ago
  There is no need to be a douche. For that matter, that they ran with a smaller battery is quite easily verified elsewhere if this information worries you somehow... https://insideevs.com/news/354805/volkswagen-id-r-returns-goodwood-sprint-version/ https://insideevs.com/news/354805/volkswagen-id-r-returns-go...
  - oittaa 4y ago
    Just a friendly reminder that using Top Gear as a source on anything EV related is literally less trustworthy than claiming that vaccines cause autism because Jenny McCarthy said so.
    - justin66 4y ago
      My God, who cares? It's literally something you can google in fifteen seconds if you doubt it.

jackmott42 4y ago

The McMurty as normally configured is good for 30 minute track sessions, and I haven't heard anything about it having a small battery for the day, nor did the weights being quoted indicated it was a small battery. A smaller pack could also reduce power potentially so they might not be able to do that for a net win. >I actually don't have any doubts about who would win that, short of some very real development on Speirling's part... It is a team that figured out how to absolutely shatter the goodwood record that VW had set, seems strange you are so confident they can't figure out Pikes Peak.

justin66 4y ago
Hey, are you there right now? Do you know if the Gen3 Formula E car Mahindra brought set a time? > seems strange you are so confident they can't figure out Pikes Peak. I meant what I said: they would need some real development to make that car into something that could win at Pike's Peak. I'm pretty sure VW spent seven figures preparing their car for that race. Don't get me wrong, I hope these guys do it. If they're taking publicity seriously, they'll do something at Nürburgring once they've made their street legal version available. Of course it would be interesting to see how the current car performs there as well.
theluketaylor 4y ago
Pikes Peak (especially in an electric car where altitude doesn't matter) is primarily a test of the driver. 156 corners in 12 miles is incredibly hard to learn and there are almost no safety barriers (or reference braking points). The goodwood hillclimb is simply not in the same category of complexity or challenge as Pikes Peak, which stands alone as the toughest and most dangerous hillclimb event in all of motorsport. Pikes Peak is also extremely bumpy and was only paved all the way to the top in 2011. A car like the Speirling relying on fans for downforce would really struggle to maintain grip throughout a Pikes Peak run as each bump would cause a momentary loss of aero (not dissimilar to this season's F1 porpoising issue, just bigger and worse)

oittaa 4y ago

> Top Gear article suggests Do you also get your health information from anti vaxxers and space news from moon hoaxers?

justin66 4y ago
There is no need to be a douche. For that matter, that they ran with a smaller battery is quite easily verified elsewhere if this information worries you somehow... https://insideevs.com/news/354805/volkswagen-id-r-returns-goodwood-sprint-version/ https://insideevs.com/news/354805/volkswagen-id-r-returns-go...
- oittaa 4y ago
  Just a friendly reminder that using Top Gear as a source on anything EV related is literally less trustworthy than claiming that vaccines cause autism because Jenny McCarthy said so.
  - justin66 4y ago
    My God, who cares? It's literally something you can google in fifteen seconds if you doubt it.