Comment by cptskippy | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cptskippy | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

> Their motor torque for rotation has been done before, most recently in the Focus RS.

However unlike a traditional ICE, an EV has 100% torque with almost zero latency.

> Brakes are, in 99% of cases, inferior to mechanical limited slip differentials for the sole reason that it's much easier to overheat the brakes on track

And the overheating problem is negated by virtue of the fact that it's an EV and can take advantage of regenerative braking. While brake regen varies in EV, Tesla's is among the highest. Taking your foot off the accelerator in Tesla feels like you're stepping on the brake in most other cars. In track mode a Model 3's regenerative braking force is further increased.

Another interesting aspect of regenerative braking is that it's instantaneously applied unlike traditional brakes which suffer from pedal and hydraulic lag.

> However unlike a traditional ICE, an EV has 100% torque with almost zero latency.

Insignificant I'm afraid. A good track driver never has the engine outside the power band, even on the slowest corners. In race mode almost all automatic gearboxes do this for you. However, some auto gearboxes shift down on full throttle, even in manual mode, which is frustrating if not infuriating, so direct-drive is a welcome change.

> And the overheating problem is negated by virtue of the fact that it's an EV and can take advantage of regenerative braking.

If you're using regenerative braking on track then you're most probably losing time, unless it can capture the kinetic-to-heat transfer from the pads and discs. You should be maximum throttle right up until the braking zone, by which point you're mostly using full pedal travel to get the car down to the ideal entry speed and maybe even trail braking into the corner to improve rotation.

However, now that I think about it, regenerative braking makes a lot more sense on tracks such as the Nordschleife where for some corners you don't have braking zones as such, but minor taps of the pedal to set up the weight distribution of the car for the corner to improve turn in. This could be a valid use case of regenerative braking.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com