Hybrids entering world of racing

Not that this is really a huge surprise as to the direction this is taking, but hybrid technology is being tested on the racing circuit, most notably the Le Mans Series. The car, a prototype called the Corsa Zytek Hybrid, is the result of a partnership between the Salt Lake City-based race team Corsa Motorsports and Zytek Group Ltd., a U.K. automotive engineering and electronics company. The Le Mans series races can range from 3 to 24 hours (now that's a lot of gas!).

The specs of the car are 200 miles per hour and the electric motor adds about 50 horsepower to the 625 horsepower eight-cylinder engine that runs on fuel that is a mix of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline which is similar to most pump fuel in the U.S. The hybrid portion comes from lithium ion batteries that are on the car and do not add a lot of weight to it, and functions under the same process/design that most hybrid cars/SUVs do.

The biggest question is how the lithium ion batteries will stand up under the extreme duress and heavy driving that Le Mans presents. If they can solve this, anything is possible in the world of racing!

(Much of the information above was taken from WSJ.com)

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