Some of you know me - most do not as I've not posted here in a while.
I am a technologist by day and I fabricate and drive racecars by night and weekend now semi-professionally.
This summer I also started instructing at a Racing School in order to pass-on the racing bug to aspiring racecar drivers and people that just want to learn how to drive their cars at speed properly / safely.
We will typically take out sedans with one or more students around the track to show them the track layout and the racing line. The track we are at is Brainerd International Raceway. This is a 3 mile long track and is known as the fastest dedicated road course in North America with approximately a 1 mile long straightaway.

To my point - A couple of weeks ago we had a large contingent of students and not enough SUVs and Sedans for us instructors. I used my 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid as an instructional vehicle for some relatively brisk laps with 3 full sized adult men along with me. The TCH is not a great handling car in the twisties but it was a BUNCH better than the other 4 door sedans I've driven around the circuit. Coming off of the final turn on our third lap, it was time to let her hair hang down. To the floor it went. The engine woke up immediately and went to full song, max torque - the eCVT transmission dutifully kept pace with the load and speed. The rate of acceleration was amazing considering the load. By the half way mark I passed 90mph and was climbing strong through 100, 105, 110 and still climbing when one of my passengers distracted me with a question. I lifted off the throttle as I was not going to take the car over 100mph through the first turn with passengers on board. It was exceptionally stable at 100MPH in the corner and even though the tires are far less than optimal for the type of side-loading I was giving them, they did not whine.

I did not get another opportunity to take the TCH to the top, but may end up trying it again - alone this time - at our last instruction day late this month.

The TCH was a huge hit with the students - it actually got as much attention as the school's Z06 Vettes and Spec Racers - partly because a Hybrid at a racetrack is rare - the rest of it was because it performed better than the Hemi powered Durango as well as the Chevy Impala and Ford Victorias..

If you're interested in what a trip around BIR is like, here's a video made from my Cobra racecar at an event a couple of years ago. No I didn't win the race but ultimately finished 2nd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6hE9NQctU0

I'll report back when I get to take the TCH back out for a spin.. Err... lap or two...

Regards - Randy




If there's one thing I've learned in online forums its this:
Never argue with an idiot, they'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience!

TCH is governor limited to 118 miles per hour, but the car feels pretty solid at high speeds , I'm sure it could do better if it was reprogrammed. If it had stiffer springs it would be better on winding roads as well. Lucky you to have access to such a nice racetrack, but not letting the car go to top speed, shame on you, i don't think I could resist. Keep in mind your speedometer is off by about 4 miles so you should have 122 miles per hour indicated , better yet if you could get hiking GPS, that should be accurate within a mile. And while at the racetrack you could also try to see how stability control works at high speeds, I did some "playing around" in the last year snow, but not knowing the limits I had to be careful, never the less TCH felt composed even on ice all the way to the point of total loss of traction. Have fun.

Good test Randy and vidio!! Good to see you back.

TCH-43mpg
VW TDI--48
08 LS 600 HL-20
08 LX 470-16

Great video Randy.

I am wondering what speed the TCH tires are rated for, I doubt it's 118 miles per hour.

I have just checked Michelin's website and there does not seem to be a speed rating for my tires (Energy™ MXV4® S8) so maybe they don't give any speed rating for ordinary passenger car tyres? Does anybody know?

Really? Usually they are off by a percentage.

So at 5mph an hour you are really doing 1mph? That's a massive error, like 500% out.

Dang

I have had my car up to 190kmh (118mph) a couple of times. I tried it to find the top speed and that's what it is limited to. It is governed and cuts back the fuel supply.
A couple of observations:
It gets there impressively quickly.
It feels very solid at that speed although I only held it there very briefly.

The Michelins on mine are V rated. That's supposed to be good for 240kmh (149mph)

The tires are rated as 94V. The 94 indicates a load rating of 1477 lbs. (670 Kg), and the V is a speed rating of 149 miles per hour (240 kilometers per hour).

--My hybrid came home!--
Ottawa owners check in here

Randy

oops..just saw that was already answered.

--My hybrid came home!--
Ottawa owners check in here

Randy

US owners seem to have agreed that their speedos have a fairly standard built in error, but I haven't seen anything to suggest the same thing happens on the CTCH. In fact, I have measured my speedo several times by GPS and it's ALWAYS accurate to within 1kph. In comparison, using the same GPS my Sienna's speedo reads about 3kph high at highway speed.

Two climate control systems, one inside and the other at the tailpipe.

Distance: 29169km (75% city - 20 min trips)
FE: 6.77L/100km or 34.7 mpg
Operating Cost: $0.066/km / $0.107/mile

Speedo is electronic, accurate to within 1 mile up to 25 miles per hour, above that it shows 3-4 MPH high per international agreement . There are at least 2 threads explaining whole thing with website links and yes, between 25 MPH and 35 MPH the difference is somehow less, but above 40 MPH it seems to be consistent 3-4 MPH regardless of speed since it's artificially introduced error. Probably there may be some differences between cars, tire wear/ pressure etc. but it should always show fast above 25 MPH as long as it is per factory specs.