Prius sets land speed record for hybrids

The lean, green Toyota Prius swapped Sunset Boulevard and the Hollywood Hills for the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the United States last month to set a new world land speed record for hybrid-powered cars. The record-setting car will be displayed at the Detroit Motor Show in early January 2005.

The green meanie set the mark at 210.492 km/h on the 4.8-km short course using a standard Hybrid Synergy Drive powertrain - a mixture of a 1.5-litre petrol engine and an electric motor.

An engineering group from Toyota Motorsport in the US prepared the car by changing the gear ratios (4.32:1 to 3.2:1) and increasing the inverter voltage from 500 to 550 volts.

A transmission cooling system was added to decrease the temperature of the inverter and an electric motor to maximise efficiency. Ambient temperature on the salt flats was nearly 38°C with nearly 100% humidity. Ice was added between runs to keep the system cool.

The interior of the car was stripped to save weight, a roll cage added for safety and the whole car lowered by 127 mm to improve the aerodynamics for this highly specialised record attempt. Even the 26-inch front and 25-inch rear tyres were made especially by Goodyear.

Toyota will display the Land Speed Prius at the 2005 North American International Auto Show in Detroit this month.

Prius, the European Car of the Year 2005, also holds the record as the first hybrid-powered car to compete in an 8,000-km Midnight Sun to Red Sea Rally in 2002.