Battle of the Titan’s and sometimes the favorite does not win...

[xcel]

Unexpected results in a very unorthodox contest.

Manuel Santos and Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Sept. 24, 2009

The Qualifying round

To go for the title, there has to be a qualifying bout. For this round, we have the all-new 2010 Honda Insight-II, the HCH-II, Prius-II and a 2009 iQ going head to head in order to qualify for the championship fight.

What was surprising was... Well, just watch the video.

Can anyone translate the Japanese commentary as it sounds like it was a lot of fun

And what was the Fuel Economy again

The Championship

With the 2010 Honda Insight-II taking top honors in the qualifier, it was time to put rubber to the road.

3-Laps at Tsukuba, the all-new 2010 Toyota Prius pitted against the up and coming youngster in the form of the 2010 Honda Insight-II.

This was a lot closer as the much heavier 2010 Prius-III with its larger and more powerful 1.8L was up against a proven handler (ok, so it handles ok ) even if handicapped with its much smaller 1.3L.

The Championship - Prius-III vs Insight-II



And god help us if anyone reading this is racing their hybrids on public streets but on the track, enjoy...

[jpleong]

And the winner is... the v-Dub pace/camera car! lol...

JP

[dr61]

HILARIOUS! Wish I understood Japanese, but they got their point across...

Reminds me of my SCCA Showroom Stock racing days in a VW Golf GTI in the 1980's...

[Kacey Green]

That was very fun to watch. Their results w/ Prius v Insight in straight lines matched up perfectly with my experience from the hands-on Honda training I attended earlier this year.

As did the handling

[antrey]

The Prius clearly has issues with the battery being drained just before it gets easily passed. I wonder if the Insight battery capacity is also the issue when it too gets passed at the end. It's funny that the cars are so "slow" they are basically racing with one hand and have time to point, shout at the other drivers, and look at the center displays. I really wish they had also reported fuel consumption. I'd love to see which one does best in FE when being trashed within an inch of its life.

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Looked to me like the VW was just hanging back until the end. The Prius noticeably slowed while the Insight did not. The Honda has a much smaller pack so if it got depleted that happened early on.

[antrey]

I would like to think the VW was not hanging back. If it was a race it should have been run honorably and at full bore with equal drivers the whole way.....it was hosted in Japan though and they're may have been a slight bias in letting the Japanese contenders maintain the lead for a good part of the race

[psyshack]

Typical Honda CVT tach. Hang at or near redline and go no where fast!

My poor under powered Ranger would whip all those hybrids.