Quote:
Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks
Toyota TS050 Hybrid wins the 86th 24 Hours of Le Mans
Fixed that for you 
While I don't think it is optimal for sportscars to be carrying hundreds of kilograms of batteries, the BMW i8, Porsche 918 and Honda NSX are the start of hybrid sportscars, the Porsche 911 will soon be going hybrid too, and eventually you'd expect other sportscars to follow hybrid trends (even USA's own Ford GT, Mustang, Dodge Viper, Corvette and Camaro?)...
Arguably the electric motors have advantages for torque vectoring (like the NSX's front axle) and torque fill (like the NSX's rear axle). Electric motors may also find their way onto the turbocharger shaft (like in F1) as a kind of anti-lag for pre-spooling on the one hand and energy recovery on the other hand. |
The 918 in particular has really shown how, despite the extra weight, hybrid drive systems can be a great boon to sportscars. A lot of attitudes changed when people saw what the 918 could do despite being weighed down by those extra motors and batteries, while still sounding great.
The next step is a hybrid sportscar where the electric motors ALWAYS drive the wheels and the engine is exclusively an electricity generator(which, to be frank, is how ALL hybrids should work) - people who were blown away by the 918 are going to have their heads explode once someone does that.