Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

With no racing going on in the present, we can only talk about racing in the past and future.  I'd like to start a discussion about the future.  What technological innovations do you think we'll see in sprint car, midget, and Silver Crown racing in the coming years?

I think there could be one major innovation that will lead to two smaller changes.  I think it's only a matter of time before electrification comes to dirt track racing.  As car manufacturers continue to develop their electric vehicle offerings the internal combustion engine will go by the wayside.  Of course there will still be aftermarket manufacturers that make engine blocks, pistons, rods, rocker arms, cranks, etc.  But the question becomes, if OEMs like Ford, Chevy, and soon to be Toyota are going to continue putting money into dirt track racing why would they do it with an internal combustion engine if they are phasing them out of their vehicle production?  If the technology doesn't keep up then there's one major source of sponsor money that may not be available any longer.  Even if it has nothing to do with money, if it can be proven that electric drive creates more torque and power then someone will try to go that direction.  It's a big change that everyone would have to get used to...no more engine noise, just tires squealing and any mechanical noise.  I remember Casey Shuman driving someone's electric midget several years ago, but that's obviously not gone very far yet.  Could've just been ahead of its time.

What this could lead to, if the rules makers will allow it, is independent suspensions and all-wheel drive.  I know both have been tried in the past but are currently outlawed.  Racing with batteries instead of an engine could allow individual electric motors to be fixed to the car's frame for each wheel.  (I know Formula E doesn't do it this way, so I'm not sure if it's as easy as I think it is.)  That would eliminate the need for a rear end gear, which opens the possibility for removal of the solid axle.  And if you could mount the motors for the front wheels you'd have to remove the front axle also.

So let's hear it...what do you think is on the horizon?

Signature here.

Electric race  cars will be the end of racing.  The older fans would stay home and there are not alot of younger fans to take thier place.  In Forula E pit stops means they get out of one car and get into another with fresh batteries.  I can see now NASCAR drivers jumping into other cars at pit stops.  The power from electric cars is dependant on how many batteries you stick in it.  To say an electric car has more power than gas is dependant on how many batteries.  There is something about the roar of gas engines that sends chills up your spine at times.  Electric cars will  go WISH as they go by.  If this should happen with electric cars I hope I am 6 ft under ground.  I have been going to races for 72 years.  This would be the end for me.

I would not go to watch electric sprint car races. Period! 

Electric motors will essentially end race for me anyhow. Not the same. And before some fool says okay Boomer I'm in my twenties...

The original poster is correct that electric racing will occur at some level.   I would imagine that NASCAR will be the first ones to go to it for exactly the reasons that were stated.   This is what the car manufactuers are moving towards.   Remember Ford already has produced an electric Mustang.   GM ha s a vision called "Zero, Zero, Zero"  which stands or zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congenstion.  The only way that GM can get to this vision is to have an all electric, self driving fleet.   

How much of this technology makes it way into sprint car racing is another story.   However, when the technology is more mature and all of the sports cars have electric motors, it will be easier to see the electric sprint car.   Perhaps, this is the answer to the engine cost problems that are in our sport.   

#IworkforGM

Electric car will never happen in Nascar.  That would end Nascar.  The engines in Nascar cars have little in comparison, actually really nothing like the engines in the cars they sell, if they did what they sell for the street would cost $150,000, similar to a Cup car.  People will buys cars they see at the race track.  Race on Sunday, sell on Monday.    The engine means little or nothing to the buyer of street cars who watch Nascar.   Manufacturers want to sell cars and spending big money on Cup racing cars is how they do it.   Do you think the Tooyota bodies funny cars have Tooyota engines.  No, they all have the same 500 cube hemi engine, which the basic hemi engine originated in the 50s in Chyrsler cars.  They can sell their electric cars in the future, but still run push rod engines in racing. Hope I don't have to buy one---no I'm too old to have to do that someday. 

Lawlessness + liberalism = HELL -  NYC, Detroit, Chicago, 
Seattle, LA  Who the H runs those cities. 

I don't think the saying win on Sunday sell on Monday applies anymore, in fact looking back I don't think it has in a long time.  If that were the case there would be a lot more Camaros, Mustangs and Camrys on the roads.  Personally I don't know anyone with one of those cars.  Looking back on the last 30 years most of the time manufacturers were changing models because those cars were getting cancelled, Chevy with the Monte Carlo, Lumina, Monte Carlo again, Impala, SS, Ford with the T-bird, Taurus, Fusion Dodge cancelled the Intrepid.  My point is if win on Sunday sell on Monday was still a thing why do all the race cars keep getting cancelled.  People are buying trucks and SUVs now.  I don't think it's any secret anymore that there's nothing stock about a stock car anymore.

IF and that's a big IF there's ever electric motors in sprint cars, it's going to be a long ways down the road in my opinion.  It's not like sprint car racing has kept up with the times on technology going on in street cars anyway.  EFI has been in almost every street car built in the last 35 years.  Independant suspension has been around since the 50s.  Today almost everything in a street car is controlled by a computer of some kind.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying sprint car racing hasn't had any technological advances in the last 50 years or that they're stuck in the stone age but their technology isn't following what the auto manufacturers are doing.  So I can't imagine in the near future (next 10 years) sprint car racing will jump into electric motors.

Since you brought up electric vehicles, (It's not sprint car related but it's not about the damn virus lol).  There's still a few issues with electric vehicles the biggest one for me is the recharge time, in a gas vehicle you have a range like an electric vehicle but within 10 minutes you can fill your car up with fuel and be on your way.  Another thing is recharge options, I know with the Tesla they want you to install a charging station at your house that charges it faster, which is fine but what if you need to go somewhere 300 miles away, say for a work meeting?  Right now you can't go too far without seeing a gas station.  Also what if you run out of electricity on the side of the road?  If you run out of gas, anybody can bring you a gas can and in 5 minutes you're on your way.  What about an electric car?  Do you have to have a generator brought to you and sit there for however long that takes?  Obviously there's extra costs to owning an electric vehicle, they're more expensive to buy, the electricity cost, charging station at your house.  Also they all advertise their range but how do other factors affect it?  Wind, snow, weather in general.  Another thing is, I don't know if they're as "green" as they claim, if you get your electricity from a coal power plant, how much polution did you save?  For me, right now I don't have any interest in an electric vehicle for these reasons.  I drive about 50 miles a day round trip for work, so range isn't an issue, if the advertised ranges are accurate.  But what if I forget to plug it in when needed (I only bring this up because I always forget to get gas at nigtht and end up getting it in the morning)?  Do I call in to work and say "Hey, I forgot to plug my car in last night I should be there in a few hours".  What if I need to get some extra juice in the town I work in (there's not a recharging station there and I don't think my job is going to want me plugging my car in on a regular basis)?  The other thing is, my Ram pickup does everything I need, it can seat 6, I can tow something if need be, I have a box to haul stuff, it has 4wd.  Is there an electric car that can do everything my truck can do?

However in time all of these issues could be taken care of, battery technology will continue to improve so it's possible that at some point you could be able to get a full recharge in 10 minutes.  Charging stations could replace gas stations or the current gas station could be converted to a charging station.  If the technology could be somewhat standardized it could be possible to get a temporary battery pack that was readily available anywhere that would give you an extra 50 miles whenever needed (stranded on the side of the road scenario).  There's also a couple of things I've wondered why they don't do them.  For instance why don't they turn a generator of some kind when moving that would also charge the batteries?  Why aren't tops of these vehicles made with solar panels that would charge them?  How great would it be if sitting in the sun all day would charge the vehicle?  Is there a way they could harness the wind energy (driving 70 mph there's always wind)?  

As I stated, at this point I don't have any interest in owning an electric vehicle.  But assuming the biggest issues could be rectified, I don't think flying cars are as far off in the future as I thought even 5 years ago.  When I say flying cars I mean along the lines of drones big enough to carry people.  There's already some people working on this.  I always said (and I could be right) there would never be flying cars in my lifetime because right now people can't drive in 2 dimensions, add that 3rd dimension and we're all screwed.  But with the technology available today that cars can pretty well drive themselves and drones can be flown without any human interaction, it might be possible what do you guys think?

And here's a fine example of a young person that's been raised right!

Possible tech; run-flat tires, tyres, twell, or as my mechanics says tars....

I'm fine with electric cars racing at any level, as long as they maintain the speeds that they go now. I mean what would the problem be? Its just a different powersource and if it would make the competition better then I really do not have a problem with it. I think people hear electric cars and just automatically start thinking of seeing Prius' racing around the track when that is not going to happen. The cars would have to maintain a similar look for many reason but mostly just for the optics and presentation so I do not think you are going to see compacted cars that  are on the street today. But to me, the racing part is the important part, not the mechanics of it. Only thing I can think of is the sound aspect that people are afraid of losing and the feeling that the sound makes through the stands. Which I can understand as that is one of the best things about the sport but I think if they can figure out a way for an electric powered engine to make a car go 140mph on dirt or 200mph for 500miles, I think they can figure out a way to get the sound back and the vibrations back as well.

Ultimately I think the electric race car technology is still a long way off but eventually it will get here. I think the consumer market version needs to get a little bit better before the thought of racing them can be made. Which is a different line of  thinking from the past because 60-70years ago one of the things to improve sales and improve the market would have been to get them on the racetrack  to show  off their performance. The way the rules & expenses are today to develop a program, not  too many maufacturers aside from maybe Tesla would want to put their electric product on the track. I think manufacturers will continue to try to develop the consumer market before the race market since they are so different now, as a lot of people do not buy Chevy, Ford, or Toyota because of their racing performance on sunday anymore. They buy them based on personal

I predict that they'll develop a simulator that is so realistic that they'll hold live WoO races and broadcast them on television.  Oh, wait a minute, we're already doing that.  Never mind. 

Stan Meissner

The next big milestone is electric pick up trrucks.   There have been several start up with plans for an electric truck.   Ford has announced an electric F-150 to hit the streets within the next two years.   GM is completelty re-tooling the Detroit Hamtramck plant to build an electric truck.   Within two years, there will be a substantial footprint of electric trucks.

I also disagree on how much money and  influence  the major OEM's have on Nascar.    Several years ago, Nascar moved away from the COT because and started introducing back Camaros, Camrys  and Mustangs to Nascar because the OEM's wanted it.   With the next generation car, the talk is about another manufactuer joinging Nascar.   Nascar definitely wants/needs the OEMs.

#IworkforGM

This is a joke, but NASCAR wants to get younger people as racing fans.  What I would do is make all race cars radio controlled.  Build a big  tower in infield.  The people will control the race cars from that tower.  Who knows, the NASCAR champion might be a 10 year old boy or girl.  Of course we need a title sponsor like MATTEL.  Of course the cars would be electric so kids could practice at home with toy electric cars..Maybe this is not a joke,   Maybe it will happen.

We don't have to worry about not having enuf push rod engines for racing.  Just Chevrolet alone has produced well over 100 million of their durable small block motors, starting in 1955 with the 265 engine, then 283, 302, 327, 350 and 400.  Think that number 100 million was put in a truck on the assembly line 6 or 7 years ago.  Also parts manufacturers will forever be building the strong internal parts needed for the extreme fatigue put on race hot rodder engines.  Pushrod engines will be around for another hundred years, maybe not in street cars but available to anyone who wants one.  

Lawlessness + liberalism = HELL -  NYC, Detroit, Chicago, 
Seattle, LA  Who the H runs those cities. 

Would they still push start electric sprint cars?

Technology is the problem not the solution. And this applies to more than just racing. 

Never ever going to happen. At least not in my lifetime. Is the tesla a good car yes. Can it drive from new York to florida in a day ? Heck no, at least not on battery power. 

Are the big 3 driving toward electric ? Yes. But for thE people that drive to the local grocery store or hardware store. Your not driving from say central pa to eldora in one. Ah but yes there going to put charging stations in rest areas. Can you imagine the lines waiting to plug your vehicle in. Nah, the push rod engine will be around for many many years to come.

Back in '69, and early 70's, Mattel had a Hot Wheels brand called Sizzlers.  It was a track that was about 6 inches wide with no lanes. You could race up to 4 cars I believe, at a time. The cars were battery powered and you would charge them with a gas pump looking thing.  I remember having a blast with that.  The tech has been around for ages

Nope. Jump start