Thread: Electrathon - A Different Kind of "Hotrod"

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OK. I went to Pensacola, but I'll get to that in a moment... I promised that I would fix my main power switches so they are Electrathon America legal before I raced again. Well, I fixed them, but never got around to posting the "fix" here, so...

The legality of the switches was brought into question because Electrathon America rules clearly state that the driver must be able to shut the main power off without reaching outside the car. Even though the switches on these cars are easily accessed by the driver, they ARE outside the driver compartment. So, all I did was bend a loop in a piece of welding rod, drill a hole in the cowling for the rod to reach through, and attach it to the power switch. The pictures tell the story better than my description, but the loop rides against the inside of the cowl when the power is "ON". To turn the power "OFF", the driver merely needs to hook his thumb or finger in the loop and pull inward. Simple.

Chances are these will never be used in a real emergency, but they are enough to make the cars legal and they DO work. An added benefit is they keep the power cutoff "key" from falling out and getting lost.

simple but nicely done and effective Jim....way to go. BTW what kind of ET's u got that rascal runnin now better than ever ?

OK, now, about Pensacola... From my house it's a 470 mile trip to Pensacola. I wondered if it would be worth the long drive and the expense of spending the weekend in a motel. I can now answer with a resounding YES!

The event was organized by Mr. Vaughn Nichols and co-sponsored by Gulf Power, the University of West Florida, and of course, Five Flags Speedway. We (the participants and our crews) were treated like royalty all day. Entry was free, lunch was provided free, cold bottled water was available all day free, and even the admission for spectators was free!

What about the racing? Well, since most of our races are held on temporary parking lot venues with tight turns and short straights, we are accustomed to running speeds in the 18 - 24 mph range. Running these cars on a banked half-mile speedway is tantamount to being on a superspeedway. Gear 'em up and let 'em fly! I think just about all of us were running almost double our usual parking lot speeds. What fun!

There were 10 teams and a total of 14 cars (4 Adult Standard, 3 College Standard, and 7 High School Standard)

How'd we do? Well, this is my thread, so I'm going to brag a bit here... I drove my white car and had a young man named Matt Miley driving the black car. Since I'm 45 pounds overweight for Electrathon, I chose to use my old batteries (5-year-old Optima Redtops) in my car and put my brand new Optima Yellowtops in Matt's car. The gamble paid off; I made 50 minutes in the first race and 53 in the second. Matt, however, finished both races and won our class (Adult Standard) by one lap. That also put him in 3rd place overall. The first pic below is Matt with the black car and both trophies.

The real surprise of the day was "the kids from Arkansas" (second pic below). This was a group of teens from a high school in Arkansas. They came prepared and ready to do battle because they blew everybody's doors off, finishing first in their class and first overall! At the end of the races when everybody else's batteries were dying, the kids were still running 30+ mph! Apparently they had done their homework well.

My only regret is that I missed this race last year. I'll be working toward making back for next year...

Dallas - It gets better every time I run it. If you've read some of the earlier parts of this thread you know I had tire problems the first time out, then bearing problems the next time. Both were my own fault and I've gotten educated somewhat by those incidents. The real development is that the cars get smoother as I run them. I guess the chain, sprockets, and bearings are getting "broke in".

We have one more race this season in Plant City, Florida next month...

Way cool Jim, thanx for the update, answered a lot of questions i had about it.

Would be good to know what kind of bats/size & # the kids from Arkansas were using.? Sure sounded like a nice race and if there home track is a like layout to that one?

exact same questions and opinion i had Bat, thanx big guy...

Hi Bat! Sure wish you had been there, but I know it's another 4 hours farther away for you...

Well, guys, here's what I know. The Kipp Delta school team from Arkansas was using Optima Redtop batteries. The car is a Blue Sky Aerocoupe, one of the new ones with the 16 inch front wheels. Interestingly, they were very careful all day to keep the body & canopy on that car so their motor was out of sight. One of their mentors told another team's mentor that it's a Pentad motor, but didn't say what model, horsepower rating, or any other details...

A fast research showed up this;
"PENTADTM G PERMANENT MAGNET DOUBLE-VENTED D.C. MOTOR


48 Volts
Efficiency: 87%
Horse Power (Max. Eff.): 7.0
R.P.M. (Maximum Efficiency): 6000
Torque (Maximum Efficiency): 73 in/lbs.

36 Volts
Efficiency: 86%
Horse Power (Max. Eff.) 4.0
R.P.M. (Maximum Efficiency): 4500
Torque (Maximum Efficiency): 57 in/lbs.

24 Volts
Efficiency: 84%
Horse Power (Max. Eff.): 2.0
R.P.M. (Maximum Efficiency): 3000
Torque (Maximum Efficiency): 44 in/lbs.

Weight: 19 pounds "

****That would make my best guess to be;
=+ most likely there using the 24v 19lbs.,as i remember there fairly high $ vs less then $500 etec.


So= Red Top,OK but do the new bat lbs. rules let a def modal red top?
I guess we need to fig that out before buying new bats.
The other thing I asked was if there near home track was something close to the speedway vs our mostly parking lots,if so that too may of help them work out gearing and power use.
Just stuff I was thinking about.

The new rules (eff. Jan 1st) allow 73 pounds of batteries (versus old limit of 67 pounds) OR two batteries off the approved list, regardless of weight. With the redtops, we have our choice of the same ones as before, SC25A, SC35A, or SC7535; with the yellowtops we can choose from D35 or D7525. The D35 is a top-post battery; the D7525 has the same power/ capacity ratings, but is a universal fit (has top posts and side posts) and is about a pound heavier.

The yellowtop is a "deep cycle" battery and there is a debate going on now over which battery is better in competition. Supposedly, the deep cycle is good for about 300 discharge/ recharge cycles compared to about 50 cycles for a standard battery. The deep cycle batteries cost about $50 more (each), but amortized over the life of the battery they will be cheaper in the long run. On the other hand, some folks think the standard batteries perform better in a race because they will discharge faster..?? The Kipp Delta team was running redtops, but every other race here in Florida this season has been won by the new team from Orlando using yellowtops. It may turn out that there is very little difference (in race performance) between deep cycle and standard batteries. I guess time will tell...

I have no idea what Kipp Delta has for a practice area. They are a "charter engineering magnet school" which means they are privately funded and they are specifically targeted toward Engineering. I suppose the students involved with this project have been researching and testing their ideas all year, but where and how they do their testing and practicing is not known.

Hey Bat, do you have any figures on the efficiency of the Scott and Briggs Etek motors? It would be interesting to see how they compare with the Pentad...

Rex is the motor man,he may have something? or can find .
I just looked back at were i thought i had some stuff about that and can't fine it at all now.
Racing is racing any type of car v8 or other, and having run a like track is a big + in perp and set up,is why I was thinking they maybe had tested at some were a bit like 5flags.

Jim,

The Pentad motor is a Scotts motor that has been tweaked on and had the label changed. The efficiency is no place close to the Etec motor. A few years ago everyone was running either a Scotts or Pentads, now almost every motor is an Etec. It is one is the primary reasons why most people now finish Electrathons instead of going dead, short of the one hour mark.

So, bottom line is: If the team won with a Pentad, they could have likely added a lap or two more with an Etec.

Aaron

May seem like an ignorant question Eletrothon, but approximately how many volts and how many amps are generated by the avg system u guys use to run ur mtrs. I am to take it that the overall average RUN life of the most current systems is an hour to an hour and a half ? also are u guys allowed to use nickel cadium batteries or generally any type the team prefers ?

Well time is just not there anymore to race our Electrathon racer,the tiling trike "ROLLING THUNDER" winner of many races. So it's up forsale in miami fla.
305 221 4872

Darn, Bat. I'm sorry to hear that. Haven't seen you in a while and I've been intending to e-mail and see what you've been up to. The "circuit" has really gotten busy the last couple of years. We are running 6 or 7 races during the season now (mostly in the Tampa area) and there are more competitors since you last raced. More cars = more fun! The guys from Orlando are still undefeated and your team is probably the one most capable of breaking that streak...

I have my cars up for sale, also, but it's because I want to build more!