{"id":18457,"date":"2016-04-26T09:57:11","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T13:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=18457"},"modified":"2016-04-26T09:57:11","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T13:57:11","slug":"payne-what-will-race-cars-look-like-in-2030","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2016\/04\/payne-what-will-race-cars-look-like-in-2030","title":{"rendered":"Payne: What will race cars look like in 2030?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

What will race cars look like in 2030? Will they be remote-control driven drones? Will they drive upside down through super loops? Will they run on hydrogen?<\/p>\n

The prestigious Michelin Challenge Design wants to know.<\/p>\n

So at the Detroit Athletic Club this week, award organizers picked auto racing as its 2017 design theme. Not just any form of racing, but the world\u2019s most famous race, the 24 Hours of LeMans in France. For nearly a century LeMans has been at the cutting edge of auto design thanks to its unique demands of speed, durability and efficiency. It\u2019s attracted the world\u2019s top automakers \u2014 Audi, Porsche, Ford, Chevrolet, Ferrari \u2014 testing the latest materials, power trains and aero tricks that give them a competitive edge, not just on the track but also in the showroom.<\/p>\n

Challenge Design, now in its 15th year, promises thousands of breathtaking entries, pushing the envelope on everything from fuels to autonomy. But if history is any guide, 2030 race cars will look a lot like they do today.<\/p>\n

For all its tech savvy, racing is still a commercially-driven, spectator sport. And spectators want to see the best man (or woman) win. That means design will continue to be dictated by rules that 1) promote competition 2) keep costs down and 3) prioritize entertainment.<\/p>\n

Promote competition:\u00a0\u201cMy favorite LeMans car is still the Porsche 917,\u201d said Acura Creative Director Dave Marek at Michelin\u2019s event \u2014 referring to the\u00a0gorgeous, 12-cylinder missiles that dominated the 1971 race<\/a>. With top speeds in excess of 220 mph, the 917 set records for distance traveled that would last for decades.<\/p>\n

Its record stood because the car\u2019s dominance forced rule changes for 1972. The fan\u2019s thirst for competition must be slaked.\u00a0The 4.9-liter 917 was banned<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 replaced by 3.0-liter, prototype-class cars that allowed more manufacturers a look in at the winner\u2019s circle. Forty-four years (and more rule changes) later, and a hybrid gas-electric Porsche\u2019s 919 won the 2015 LeMans. Yet despite its advanced drivetrain and carbon-fiber chassis, the 919 and 917 look similar \u2014 same narrow greenhouse, same long, aerodynamic shape, same rear wing. The laws of physics don\u2019t change.<\/p>\n

Keep costs down:\u00a0Not just physics, but cost must be respected as well. Porsche\u2019s 919 drivetrain is the competitive \u2014 and political \u2014 engine of choice in endurance racing. Ten years ago, it was diesel as LeMans-winner Audi made the euro tax-favored engines sexy as well as politically correct. But politics is a fickle mistress. \u201cThe regulations will define what happens in the race,\u201d said race designer Ben Bowlby at the DAC.<\/p>\n

Today, governments favor batteries over diesels. But electrics are expensive, which favors big spenders. Which squeezes competition. Witness Mercedes\u2019 dominance (yawn) of hybridized Formula One.<\/p>\n

Will alternative fuels dominate in 2030? Consider that Lemans\u2019 most competitive class \u2014 production-based Grand Touring \u2014 forbids hybrids to reduce costs. Which means that when Marek\u2019s hybrid supercar Acura NSX enters endurance racing next year it will do so with a gas engine.<\/p>\n

Prioritize entertainment:\u00a0Connectivity and autonomy are the buzzwords of the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWarfare today is conducted with no people,\u201d said Doug Fehan, Corvette\u2019s legendary racing chief. \u201cDoes safety become such an element that a decision is made that it\u2019s too dangerous to have humans involved?\u201d Will it mean drones? Virtual racing?<\/p>\n

Not likely. The trend in racing entertainment is toward\u00a0more<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 not less \u2014 driver involvement. Case in point: Daytona. The world-famous race track \u2014 which hosts both the LeMans-like 24 Hours of Daytona and NASCAR\u2019s 500 \u2014\u00a0debuted a $400 million main grandstand<\/a>\u00a0\u201csports megaplex.\u201d Its design gives fans a better front row seat so they can see, hear and interact with their favorite drivers pounding around the track in deafening V-8s.<\/p>\n

In a world of multiple sports fan experiences, auto racing offers a unique visceral experience. Like the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball, fans demand sportsmen and women over technology. Baseball still uses a wooden bat to level the playing field between pitcher and batter.<\/p>\n

Michelin Challenge Design entrants (tune in this fall for winners) will be tempted to gorge on tech, but the truly futuristic entries will dumb-down technology to favor driver parity.<\/p>\n

LeMans has its own innovation award called Garage 56, which has produced marvels like the Delta Wing. For 2017 its winning technology that will allow quadruple amputee Frederick Sausset to race. But the car he will pilot \u2014 a Morgan prototype \u2014 will feature a highly regulated, normally-aspirated, gas-powered V-8 to limit costs and encourage competition.<\/p>\n

Because while we love cars \u2014 we really care about the human on the winner\u2019s stand at the end.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What will race cars look like in 2030? Will they be remote-control driven drones? Will they drive upside down through super loops? Will they run on hydrogen? The prestigious Michelin Challenge Design wants to know. So at the Detroit Athletic Club this week, award organizers picked auto racing as its 2017 design theme. Not just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18457"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18457"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18458,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18457\/revisions\/18458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}