Originally Posted by
Cougrrcj
As for racing improving the breed in other things... Does America's Cup racing improve the average sailboat? No. Does NASCAR racing improve the Chevy in your driveway? Does NHRA Top Fuel funny car racing improve that same Chevy in your driveway? No. No. Does Unlimited Air Racing at Reno improve the flight qualities or performance of a Cessna 172? No. Does it improve fuel efficiency of a Boeing 767 on a flight from Chicago to Honolulu? No.
Automobile racing absolutely has improved autombiles used on the street.
A hugh number of innovations have come from auto racing, particularly sports car racing.
Here's a chart of just the things Porsche has done:
Currently, racing is pushing the envelope on fuel efficiency and developing advanced hybrid technologies.
Endurance car racing, and Formula 1 both limit the amount of fuel a car can use. That has lead to the development of hybrid sytems that produce 400 hp/liter of displacement, and get 80 plus mpg.
That technology has already found its way to Porsche's street legal 918 that produces 887hp and gets 85mpg.
It will trickle down to more affordable cars over time.