Article: From efficiency to airflow...

Bellator 12 years ago

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2015/01/the-golden-age-tech-speeds-from-racetrack-to-road-faster-than-ever/

From efficiency to airflow, it’s a golden age for racing tech in our driveways

Why do car companies go racing? First and foremost, they do it for marketing. Almost as soon as the first cars turned a wheel, they were being raced against each other to show the world—and all those potential customers—who built the fastest and most reliable motor car. Bob Tasca, a Ford dealer and leading figure in drag racing, articulated it best. "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday."

Whether that still holds true 50 years later in an age of far greater competition for our interest isn't clear, but today salesmanship certainly isn't the only reason to race. Take another quote, this time from Soichiro Honda, founder of the Japanese auto giant that bears his name: "Racing improves the breed."

Considering the source, maybe that's just post-hoc marketing justification. Or... perhaps racing really makes our cars, our day-to-day vehicles, better...

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porsche917 12 years ago

Nice read. I agree with most of it but when they talk about all the technology that Audi uses in its road cars it fails to mention that the road going Audi also requires a full pit crew to keep it running just like the real race car. $$$$

Bellator Admin OP 12 years ago

Price of the "bleeding edge"?

Your experience with repairs was one of the things that put me off of buying a CPO Audi Q3 S-Line when I was shopping last fall.

B