Jaguar's Hybrid Jet-Powered Concept Car

An anonymous reader writes "Jaguar has developed a hybrid car that runs on gas turbines. The range extended vehicle usually uses four electric motors (one on each wheel) plus a lithium-ion battery pack for propulsion, but can achieve a performance boost from a pair of gas turbines mounted in the rear. Cnet UK reports the car can do 0-60 mph in 3.4 sec. (and 50-90 mph in 2.3 sec.) and reach 205 mph while emitting less CO2 than a Toyota Prius."

Comments

Re:A step in a right direction

[drinkypoo]

While I'm no expert, my understanding is that sports such as Formula 1 and Indycar have done massive amounts to improve the fuel efficiency of the cars you see on the roads every day.

Almost no race technology makes it into contemporary cars. Pretty much everything in racing is designed to last a race or two and then be replaced, so it's designed for minimum weight and maximum power output, and only enough longevity to make it through the necessary races. Everything important is upgraded and in many racing series they're not even building their own engines, they're forced to use something on spec. Most of the race car parts won't work well on the street for the average driver; carbon fiber rotors are great on the track but they don't stop you as short on the street, they just stop you more times in a short period. Indeed, even full-metallic pads have this problem and they also transmit more heat into the brake fluid, meaning you now have to run better fluid or cook it, but they don't fade AT ALL. Even those grooved rotors have less stopping power because of the reduced friction area. Race cars may have bushings which control vibration replaced with harder parts, for example made of nylon or kevlar, to improve road feel, but this would give you a coarse ride on almost all real-world surfaces.

Short form is that eventually castrated versions of some race techs like variable valve timing or coil on plug makes it to the street, but almost nobody ever brings you a full-race anything. Even in relatively stock classes the car is stripped of interior parts and stuffed with a full roll cage, not to mention generally tuned up to the point of engine self-destruction, again lasting long enough to finish races. Fuel injectors in exhaust manifolds to keep turbos spooled while shifting... Sequential transmissions with straight-cut gears that you have to rev match. (You can find that in some Ferraris with auto rev matching... guess what it costs! just guess.)