Hybrid racing cars

I have a first generation Honda Civic hybrid, and I love it. I do a fair few miles for work, and being able to get over 600 miles out of a tank - that can only cost £30 to fill up - is awesome. The fact that it's a family sized car that can fit my wife, three kids, and all their junk, is also a huge bonus.

I predicted to a friend when I got the Civic, almost 3 years ago, that within 5 years we'd be seeing Formula 1 start to use hybrid technology. So I was pretty chuffed this week when the FIA announced an unprecedented 10 year freeze on engine development, in order to force F1 manufacturer's to invest in green technology.

With hybrid's giving a nice boost in torque and low end acceleration, hybrid motors in Formula 1 and performance cars make a lot of sense.

In related news, a team in the UK will be fielding a second generation Honda Civic hybrid in the Formula 1000 rally championship. This follows on the heels of a Honda Insight hybrid winning the Formula 1000 Class A championship last year.

A hybrid Toyota Supra has also won Tokachi 24 hour endurance race in Japan. The GT spec HV-R lead the entire race, finally finishing 19 laps ahead of the second place car. This success can only fuel the rumours (ha ha, see what I did there? :-) that the Toyota FT-HS concept hybrid is heading for production as the next Supra.

Interesting times ahead indeed. I'll look forward to swapping my hybrid Civic for a hybrid Ferrari 612 in the next few years :-)

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formula 1, fia, honda civic hybrid, honda insight hybrid, toyota ft-hs, toyota supra hybrid, formula 1000 rally