adrs2k

I do love Formula 1 and pretty much every form of motorsports, but my overall favorite is Endurance racing and Le Mans Prototypes. You could say they are F1 cars built for endurance and with fenders and a roof. Anyway, this year will see Audi, winner of 10 of the last 12 24HR races at Le Mans bring their tried and true Diesel engine prototype mated to a flywheel based hybrid system. Peugeot was supposed to be bringing a diesel hybrid with battery packs to the race but because of the economy has quite racing effective immediately.

Which brings me to the reason I am posting. Toyota racing since leaving F1 is coming back to sportscar racing and Le Mans, this year with a petrol powered Hybrid that uses capacitors to store energy. This system has been tested for a couple of years now on an ex JGTC Supra.

If you aren't familiar with sportscar racing and want to know more, let me know...basically manufacturers are involved in this type of racing because it is the MOST relevant type of racing to bring technologies to the road. A list of technologies that were developed for Le Mans but eventually ended up in road cars: disk brakes, windshield wipers, direct injection, HID head lights, and the list goes on.

So here are some videos of the new Toyota. First video notice the car coming out of the slow corners and having traction issues. This is the team trying to figure out how best to use the Hybrid energy and release energy in the capacitors. It is something close to an extra 100hp being released under accel so you can imagine it will take some time to fine tune. I can imagine that hopefully the next NSX will be something like this, and could potentially be a lot of fun.

Second video shows the car pulling out of the pits on only electrical power, then switching over to the petrol engine. Sounds like a giant RC car

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xx3BihXIV4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bFShHZv4wk

adrs2k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViGR1Hw65e4

Boofster

Check out GoTuning's post about ASM parts:

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/923...t__p__21352182

Jin_SK

I agree. Seems like there are a lot people going "OMG, $$$$$$$$$ for a carbon fibre hardtop? I only paid 30 cents for mine yo". Well, are you buying a hard top so that you can have a "hard" top (in the literal sense), or are you buying a quality item of superior construction/fitment/etc? Like anything else, you get what you pay for. There's a lot of room for subjectivity as to whether part X is "worth" it or not, and that's up to the buyer. If you don't want to spend as much on your car on a set of coilovers, then don't. Although, I think it's appropriate that GoTuning made that post when they're selling just about everything ASM has.

Manga_Spawn

Yeah but at the same time ASM parts are expensive just for the hell of it. $2500 for a tow hook? $18000 for suspension? $7000 for an exhaust? Granted I know all these parts are second to none quality wise but unless you are a sponsored professional race team their parts just don't make sense. That suspension cost more than the car is worth and for the price of there body kit you could buy a lotus or ariel atom which will be faster than just about any S. I like expensive parts also but I cannot afford them so I go for the well made but cheaper price part. So long as the quality is decent and it does its job I am fine with it. If I had stupid money to just blow then sure I would build something completely crazy but I have yet to find that billion dollar idea or win the lotto.

Boofster

^ Let's not start an argument. I agree with GT's point that simply knowing these parts are developed for our car is flattering.

Jin_SK

Don't get me wrong, from a buyer's prospective I agree 1000% with Elliott. Seems like buying ASM is buying Ferrari: lots of dollars for an emblem.

adrs2k

I have complete appreciation for ASM and any and all high end shops, tuners, cars etc. I can understand why some of their parts cost as much as they do, and there is good reason as stated in what GoTuning posted. Also keep in mind, when you outsource a design/product, and do a very limited production run, that drives cost through the ROOF! In regards to their suspension, that is crazy expensive and I doubt its even that good (I hate SACHS). I can understand why its so expensive though. Its basically a one off custom unit.

When I worked at Penske I helped with a couple custom applications. Price was very extreme, but the customer had the money and its what he wanted. These were one off units that had no direct application to any other vehicle. The customer enjoyed paying to have a reputable company build a suspension system to his exact specs. That includes flying or paying for travel of the engineers to bring mock ups to the shop, and do track testing.

Some people live for that kind of stuff. Overkill perhaps to some, not to others.

Same goes for the price of parts. Some people just rather say they have a carbon hood or exhaust. They don't care about the material used, the manufacturing process used, and the man hours that went into it. If all you care about is having "mods" then good for you.

Some people want the best they can buy. Let's face it, we can all afford nice things, look at the cars we have. It just comes down to are you willing to spend the time saving and buy what you really want. If budget parts are what you want, that is fine, if top of line is what you want, that is fine too. It is all a matter of opinion.

My only 2 cents, just keep in mind that companies like ASM, Mugen, J's etc can only exist if people are willing to pay the premium for their parts. So if no one ever bought these parts, the S2000 probably would not be as developed as it is, and there would be no "fake" parts because there would be nothing to copy.

I put my money where I think it matters, wheels, exhausts, suspension, body parts, tires, safety.

I personally can't justify high dollar tower braces, intakes and some other things.

To each their own!!!

Manga_Spawn

Thinking about it more I think ASM does make some sense. Adam you hit it on the head with the custom application that is outsourced. That costs big bucks. Really though ASM is like any other race team that makes parts for the car. I am sure if you went and tried to buy the same parts from a race corvette or aston martin they would cost an arm and a leg and you would probably have to know someone on one of those teams to even have the chance to buy that parts. With ASM they just post prices where most race teams don't. Also I would think that the main customers for most of their stuff would be other race teams that don't have the time and money to fully R&D and make or order parts. I understand why they get made and what their purpose is what I don't understand is someone buying these parts for a street S2000 that is worth $19k. But again like Adam said there are people with more money than sense everywhere.

Boofster