Helio & Tax Woes; Hybrids at Road Atlanta
Helio Castroneves of Team Penske has been indicted on Federal income tax evasion charges. The Miami Herald has more here:
We mentioned in our Race-Talk program this week, that we'd do some explaining on how the Zytek racing hybrid that will be racing in the American LeMans' Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta (Braselton, GA) works. Here goes:
The vehicle is powered by a 4 cam 4.5 liter racing V8 engine. The hybrid system converts energy generated by braking into electricity. When braking, the generator sends back DC electricity to charge the battery pack that runs the motor. The hope is to generate enough electricity to run the car at low speeds (similar to those on pit roads), then have the V8 kick in...and when needed for some extra power...the motor can add electric power to the V8 (just like what happens with Toyota's Prius/Camry/Highlander hybrids; Ford's Escape; Saturn's Vue and Aura and Chevy's Tahoe/GMC Yukon/Cadillac Escalade hybrids. With all of the spot gas shortages going on in that area (and a little bit west of there around Talladega); you'd wish for one of those on the road as well. The ALMS has most of its cars run on E10 (10 percent ethanol--safe for all cars); E85 (up to 85 percent ethanol, in practice more like 70%; those cars need special injectors and plumbing) and clean diesel (The Audi R10s and Peugeots). With hybrids...they have all ends of the energy saving spectrum covered in ALMS.
For the record, Formula One Grand Prix racing may see some version of kinetic energy recovery in 2009, be it through a flywheel that stores energy, or like the electric hybrids (BMW & Red Bull).
We're about to load up for bear with our trip to Lowe's Motor Speedway next weekend...so we're kicking back--hoping the gas shortage will ease around the "Queen City".
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