BYD's new Yangwang U9 Xtreme, a limited-edition track hypercar, debuted with a 2,220-kW four-motor system, a {{496.22 km/h}} top speed, and a new Nürburgring time of 6:59.157.
He left out an important data point with all of his math. One he doesn’t have any data on. He failed to account for down force created by the vehicle. He completely ignored it. Downforce completely changes breakaway speeds on the tires.
As to why it gets slower times than a thousand hp car on the track, it’s simple. The car weighs MUCH more. Like 2,000 pounds more. That makes braking and turning and acceleration slower (but there’s plenty of power to overcome the acceleration) and like what he did touch on, the battery isn’t large enough to go “all out” on this track without running out of juice.
If the byd car could use magic to make it weigh as little as the zr1 and not be battery capacity limited, it would wipe the floor with the zr1.
So yes, 3,000hp and all wheel drive is a benefit. It just can’t overcome the weight difference through all the turns and deceleration on the track.
You are right in pointing this out, but I doubt it would change things much: the BYD car doesn’t seem to be that extreme in terms of downforce and if, for reference, an F1 car can generate around 1500kg of downforce at 200km/h, I wouldn’t expect more than some hundred kg on the EV. At a weight of 2500kg, it is a relevant but small percentage, only in fast sections of the circuit. On the flip side, they have to lift even more because of increased drag.
And generally regarding the weight: this is exactly the point, huge power at the cost of huge weight is a big trade off, even with the undersized battery they use. That’s why power/weight ratio is the thing to look for, but in this case physical limits are the ceiling against which the BYD bumps. It is nevertheless an extremely impressive car and pretty visionary.
Engineering explained made an interesting video pointing out how useless all this theoretical power ends to be:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TynF7R7q6c8
He left out an important data point with all of his math. One he doesn’t have any data on. He failed to account for down force created by the vehicle. He completely ignored it. Downforce completely changes breakaway speeds on the tires.
As to why it gets slower times than a thousand hp car on the track, it’s simple. The car weighs MUCH more. Like 2,000 pounds more. That makes braking and turning and acceleration slower (but there’s plenty of power to overcome the acceleration) and like what he did touch on, the battery isn’t large enough to go “all out” on this track without running out of juice.
If the byd car could use magic to make it weigh as little as the zr1 and not be battery capacity limited, it would wipe the floor with the zr1.
So yes, 3,000hp and all wheel drive is a benefit. It just can’t overcome the weight difference through all the turns and deceleration on the track.
You are right in pointing this out, but I doubt it would change things much: the BYD car doesn’t seem to be that extreme in terms of downforce and if, for reference, an F1 car can generate around 1500kg of downforce at 200km/h, I wouldn’t expect more than some hundred kg on the EV. At a weight of 2500kg, it is a relevant but small percentage, only in fast sections of the circuit. On the flip side, they have to lift even more because of increased drag.
And generally regarding the weight: this is exactly the point, huge power at the cost of huge weight is a big trade off, even with the undersized battery they use. That’s why power/weight ratio is the thing to look for, but in this case physical limits are the ceiling against which the BYD bumps. It is nevertheless an extremely impressive car and pretty visionary.