Toyota Mirai 2016, powered by hydrogen fuel cell (HFC), is going to be the official pace car to lead NASCAR race. These race cars are powered by monstrous Toyota engines which are capable of producing upward 750 bhp without using any turbochargers or superchargers or any other ancillaries of this kind. The engines are so big that they use 5.87-litre to generate all that horsepower.
But unlike NASCARs, that produce lot of smoke and CO2 emissions, the hydrogen fuelled vehicles only emit water vapours and no CO2 as it utilises hydrogen instead of gasoline. Refuelling takes only five minutes and one tank is good for almost 300 miles. Toyota is planning to put this vehicle on sale later this year in California, there is also an expansion planned.
Ed Laukes is the vice president of marketing for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. and he is very happy to announce that they will continue to use NASCAR as a showcase their innovation and environmental leadership. In 2009 at Charlotte, Toyota Camry Hybrid became the first hybrid vehicle leading the NASCAR race.