Hybrid Supra wins endurance race in Japan

Solar-powered cars have done it, diesels have done it, now hybrids are winning races.

Toyota has secured top spot in a Japanese endurance race with a modified Supra, the Supra HR-V. The winning car finished 19 laps ahead of the second-placed car.

With in-wheel motors and a separate electric motor driving the rear wheels, the Supra is not your run-of-the-mill hybrid. It's a mobile test bed for proposed future hybrid-drive technology which will be lighter and offer space savings over the integrated engine and battery pack set-up of current production hybrids.

The win in the Tokachi 24-hour race marks the first occasion a hybrid-drive vehicle has won a motor sport event. Toyota set about developing this particular Supra -- a retired 'Super GT' class car -- based on lessons learned in the race last year with a Lexus GS 450h, which finished 17th.

The Supra's performance was boosted with a 150kW electric motor mounted in the rear of the car and driving the rear wheels. This was in addition to the in-wheel motors mentioned previously.

Since the Supra started from pole and led for the entire event, it's easy to surmise that the hybrid was more reliable than its competitors and required fewer pit stops.

The power storage device for the Supra HR-V is a quick-charging capacitor. It charges much faster than the conventional battery packs usually found in hybrids. Every time the Supra braked or at least decelerated, the capacitor was drawing reserves of power from the regenerative braking system far quicker than a battery pack would have managed.

The successful outing for the hybrid Supra will have been noticed by the FIA, motor sport's international peak body -- currently considering the introduction of hybrid-drive systems in Formula One from 2011.

Entering the Supra HR-V in the race wasn't just a 'see-what-we-can-do' exercise. Lessons learned from the Supra will lead to improved hybrid-drive systems for production cars.

Toyota Australia's senior executive director sales and marketing, David Buttner argued that the Supra HR-V "highlights the direct benefit that motorsport has on passenger car technology, and reaffirms hybrid systems as the way of the future both on the track, and on the road."

Conversely of course, it's also a case of passenger car technology improving the racing breed.

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