Le Mans
-
The name Green4U is likely not well-known by many, but the company aims to change that with the introduction of an all-electric race car. The company is the latest project by Don Panoz, best known as the founder of Panoz Motorsport and the sports-car brand which bears his name. Most importantly, the Green4U Panoz race car will ultimately help influence and develop a portfolio of production electric cars in the future. DON'T MISS: Mercedes, Porsche to join Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Renault in Formula E racing The race car's full official name is the Green4U Panoz Racing GT-EV; it boasts 450 kilowatts...
-
Dominant Audi racing team dumps diesel hybrids for electric power
Audi will stop racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and focus on Formula E instead.
Stephen Edelstein -
Nissan Reveals Tiny Engine For Electric ZEOD Le Mans Racer
Downsizing isn't just a concept reserved for road-going vehicles--the world of motor racing is adopting the theory too. Smaller engines, turbocharging and hybrid technology is all the rage, with this year's F1 grid adopting all three in an effort to remain relevant. Nissan's ZEOD RC Le Mans car is...
Antony Ingram -
Hybrid Toyota TS030 Makes Successful Le Mans Test Debut
Resplendent in its new 'hybrid-blue' color scheme, Toyota's hybrid entry into this year's Le Mans 24 Hours has made a successful debut in testing. Toyota tested a pair of its TS030 Le Mans Prototypes at the Le Mans circuit. The #7 car of Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima completed the...
Antony Ingram -
Audi To Rival Toyota In Fielding Hybrid Racer At Le Mans
Many automakers claim that their exploits in the world of motorsport go towards improving their road cars. It's a tenuous connection sometimes, but Audi could lay fair claim to motorsport -derived technology in its road cars, from its Le Mans program. With maiden wins for its TFSI technology in...
Antony Ingram -
Toyota Making Le Mans Return With Hybrid Prototype Racer
Racing is getting greener: F1 has plans for downsized engines, Porsche has the 911 GT3 RSR with kinetic energy recovery and Le Mans has rumbled to the sound of turbo diesel engines for several years now. Indeed, the diesel-engined Audis and Peugeots have been dominating the sport since 2006 with...
Antony Ingram -
In recent years at the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race there is an event called the Le Mans vers le Futur that takes place before the actual race in which a number of vehicles showcasing future automotive technology takes to the famous Circuit de la Sarthe for a couple of demonstration laps. Last year we saw the R8 e-tron supercar take to the track and this year another Audi e-tron has made its presence felt at Le Mans, the seductively stylish e-tron Spyder concept car first revealed at the 2010 Paris Auto Show. As its name suggests, there’s an electrified drivetrain under the pretty...
-
Honda CR-Z Racer To Kick Its Tail At Le Mans
It seems like green cars hitting the race track is a trend this year, and now a 2011 Honda CR-Z Racer will make the rounds at this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. Of course, it won't go head-to-head with the turbocharged V-12 gas guzzlers. Instead it will be part of a special...
Kevin Lee -
Nissan Takes On Le Mans With Nismo RC Electric Race Car
Ask most electric vehicle fans to name an electric car best suited to the race track and the chance are the super sexy Tesla Roadster will get mentioned long before the 2011 Nissan Leaf. But a few months ago NIssan’s motorsport division unveiled its own electric racing car concept based on...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Porsche Launches Version 2.0 Of Amazing 911 GT3 R Hybrid Racer
If at first you don't succeed ... make your race car better. That's the principle behind yesterday's launch of the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid 2.0. It's the second iteration of Porsche's ground-breaking 911 endurance racer fitted with a Kinetic Energy Recovery System, or KERS. The first version of the...
John Voelcker -
Testing World's Fastest Hybrid Racer: Long 'Still Charged Up'
What's it like driving the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid, the world's fastest hybrid vehicle? Ask driver Patrick Long, and he'll tell you he's "still pretty charged up (forgive the pun)" after returning to the States following two weeks of testing the car on the Lausitzring circuit outside Berlin. We...
John Voelcker -
Audi Shows Off R8 e-tron At 24 Hours Of Le Mans
When most people think of electric vehicles, they think of low cost and environmentally friendly vehicles that are about as much fun to drive as the Flintstones’ car. Automakers like Audi and Mercedes-Benz, however, are hoping to alleviate that stigma by targeting the top end of town and...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Pretty much every manufacturer is now at least experimenting with hybrid cars. The bulk of them use a high-voltage battery pack to store and deliver energy to supplement a gasoline engine. But in its experimental 911 GT3 R Hybrid test car, Porsche has taken a different tack toward energy conservation for racing. It uses an adaptation of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) technology first built into Formula 1 race cars. Electric drive up front Rather than a battery, that system is based on a flywheel, mounted where the passenger seat would normally sit and spinning at speeds up to...
-
Racing Goes Green As Diesels Romp At Le Mans
We were once told by an auto writer that "real car people" didn't want green cars. They wanted noise, and roaring engines, and squealing tires. Well, the triumph of diesel-powered race cars at the famed 24 Heures du Mans shows you can have both. The French carmaker Peugeot placed first and second...
John Voelcker