What will we be racing 20 years from now?

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Huh... I haven't run across many of these at my local track.

GameboyRMH said:

QuikMcshifterson said:

I understand the charging infrastructure doesn't exist yet

It does, check your house for one of these:

He was referring to large scale charging at a track.  I suspect most track pits are not set up to have a large number of EVs all charging at the same time - 2 or 3, perhaps, but not a few grids worth of EVs.

Twenty years from now it will be very, very quiet.........in more ways than one.

Honestly. It completely depends on where Right To Repair is at in 20 years.

That's the answer. 

Probably mostly the same ICE cars we are now. Newer cars are more and more problematic. Locked ECUs, electronics that will be a nightmare to keep running once parts start drying up.

However equally as likely is EVs. Provided tracks start putting in level 3 chargers. Model 3s are starting to get pretty cheap. In 20 years they should be cheaper than now relative to income anyways.

In reply to theruleslawyer :

Absolutely. I fully expect some kind of crazy wild mods to exist for electric cars too. Especially as the older cars fall way out of warranty and the hacking scene for them improves. There's a world where these are opened up, hardware replaced with open and standardized pieces. 

Unfortunately, the challenges of *actually* fixing hardware like this goes in a way different direction than ICE cars. 

So, recently had a related thought about this.

Most people seem to prefer racing something that looks like a street car. 

Cars will continue to get more and more complex, making them hard to turn into race cars.

People like racing cars that can easily be repaired.

Could this lead to growth for SCCA GT classes? Pick your favorite body and engine and then mix with a tube chassis? 

20 years?  Assuming we're around in 20 years, I suspect actual racing will be banned as a frivolous and wasteful anti-social behavior.  For those who insist, they will be given some very realistic VR headsets, and injected with a synthetic form of adrenalin.

Brz's and its clones might get cheap and i feel like theyll flood the racing scene, more then they have now, kinda like miatas.

pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:

At some point, we may look back at the TCR cars available from several manufacturers in disbelief that you could write a check and walk out with something so cabable.  

 

TCR fields have pretty much disappeared in the US.  

20 years ago, in 2004, I started rallycrossing, with a mostly stock FB RX-7 on white letter 205/60-13 street tires.  It had stock everything but springs and a header.

Now, on the other hand, after all sorts of different cars, I rallycross... er....

...

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

David S. Wallens said:

So, recently had a related thought about this.

Most people seem to prefer racing something that looks like a street car. 

Cars will continue to get more and more complex, making them hard to turn into race cars.

People like racing cars that can easily be repaired.

Could this lead to growth for SCCA GT classes? Pick your favorite body and engine and then mix with a tube chassis? 

 

I had a thought earlier today.  Aside from a few outliers, you can't really get camshafts for engines anymore.  It's not like it used to be where no matter if you had a Buick V8 or a BMW four cylinder or a Datsun anything, you could find hotter cams to wake them up.  This really hurts the ability to make a good race engine, although historically racing in the US is fairly limiting on power upgrades so maybe this isn't that big a deal.

Hyundai has continuously variable camshaft *duration* in production engines.  (I've posted about this before, it's really wild, the cam lobes are on this eccentric thingy and they speed up or slow down the lobe while it is opening the valve)

We can now get "hotter cams" with software, not hardware.

What will we be racing 20 years from now?

Probably bed pans and mobility scooters (hot rodded, of course)

Tom1200 said:

My friggin Datsun.........

In one of Peter Egan's R&T's columns he mentioned thst there is always a Datsun Roadster in attendance at every SCCA Runoff.  

We can rest assured that 20 years from now at least one person will be racing a Datsun roadster (and a 1200). 

Tom1200 said:

My friggin Datsun.........

In one of Peter Egan's R&T's columns he mentioned that there is always a Datsun Roadster in attendance at every SCCA Runoff.  

We can rest assured that 20 years from now at least one person will be racing a Datsun roadster (and a 1200).