Thread: Electrathon - A Different Kind of "Hotrod"

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You guys sure did well. Nice selection of different vehicles in the running too! I don't remember seeing your second car in the burnt orange/gold color! Good selection of tunes for the video too, can't go wrong with the Doobie Brothers, ZZ Top and the Cars!

Steve,
On the previous page there's a picture of my two cars sitting nose-to-nose in my driveway. The last two years I had a white car, but I sold it to a school last April. The copper car is the new one I built this past summer to replace the one I sold.

The stars & stripes car in the video is owned by the "Electrocutioners" team from Orlando. The two owners, Drew and Steve, take turns driving. Whichever one is driving, the other one takes pics and video. Drew does the editing and sound dubbing later. He usually chooses some pretty cool music. There are other videos of theirs on Youtube from previous races.

Jim I must have missed the posting, that was right around the time my computer crashed!

Now can we put that scooter engine in there??? That would really surprise them kids!

Nah! That's just an 88 cubic inch engine. I'm holding out for the 113 cu inch S&S Super Stock in my son's bike. Then I gotta find room for about six mufflers to keep it quiet.., and a fuel tank.., and the oil tank.., and... uh... Maybe I better just leave it as is.

Yamaha has a really nice, compact engine/transmission available that the guys use in the shifter carts.......They're FAST!!!!!!

I didn't relate this part... When I drove into the pits at the end of the last race, I let go of the "dead man" switch and coasted to a stop about 8 feet short of where I wanted to be. I compressed the switch and dialed up the throttle - nothing... I tried twice more; compress the dead man switch and dial up the throttle - nothing. Finally, I unstrapped and climbed out of the car, assuming that the dead man switch had taken a dump. It's just a little microswitch and they are somewhat delicate looking (although I've only had one go bad in 9 seasons of racing). Yesterday I finally went to work on the car with a fresh set of batteries installed and a multi-meter. The dead man switch is fine, the potentiometer (throttle) is fine, but the controller is dead! OUCH!!

This is the second most expensive part on the car and it's the second one I've lost so far this season (13 car fried its controller at the September season opener). Well, at least it finished the last race before it died...

Jim these things are money pits!

Ha, ha! Seems that way at the moment, doesn't it? Actually, I bought those remanufactured controllers for $160 each about 8 years ago. I guess, if you amortize them across 8 years of use they were pretty cheap. This is still a lot cheaper than when I was racing stock cars...

We had another race this past Saturday (1-21-12), but things didn't go as well as last time. The track we were running on was the track around the football field at Northeast High School in St. Petersburg and it was great! It's fairly new pavement and smooth as glass. Unfortunately, my left front tire went flat about 10 minutes into the first race! I lost several minutes in the pits, so my chances for the day were shot. Also, I guessed wrong on gear ratios; I had both cars geared too high... My son was running good in the 13 car until about the last 10 minutes when the batteries started going away. He completed 98 laps; good for 4th place (1st place car turned 101 laps).

Between races I changed gears in both cars, but I went too far the other way (too low). Consequently, we had to dial the throttles up too much to keep pace and that puts too much draw on the batteries. The winner and I both turned 100 laps; he finished about 12 seconds ahead of me. My son turned 95 laps, finishing in 4th place again.

Final results for the day: The winner (Rodney Schreck) ran 200 laps, total. Jim Jr. ran 193 laps for 4th place in class and 4th overall. I ran 165 laps which put me 6th in class and 9th overall. Next race is a tough little road course at University of South Florida in Tampa on Feb. 18. I've had some good luck and some bad luck at that race in the past. Time will tell...

Well, I haven't updated in a while; I've been busy with other things... The February race at USF Tampa was a tough one, as expected. It's a tight, challenging course and I always come home exhausted after that one. My son took 3rd place with the black 13 car. I managed a 4th place even after losing 20 laps in the pits during the second race replacing another flat tire!

We didn't attend the March 24th race at Aparicio-Levy school in Tampa; I was on a cruise with my wife.

In the meantime, I have started construction on two more cars. One is a duplicate of my copper car - it's sold. The other one is a recreation of the car below (my first Electrathon car), but with some changes to make it lighter and more reliable.

Well, it may seem I've been remiss in my reporting for a while, but actually I just didn't have much to relate. As I said above, I missed the race in March because I was gone on vacation. The April race was held at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola and I simply chose not to go. It's a 9-hour drive from my home plus a couple of nights in a motel plus meals plus gas for my truck, etc. It's a lot of expense to run two 1-hour races for a chance to win a trophy. Also, the schedule had 3 races on consecutive weekends; Pensacola, FL April 28, Cocoa, FL May 5, Quitman, GA May 12.

The race at Cocoa was hosted by the Florida Solar Energy Center and run in conjunction with their Energy Whiz Olympics. We put our cars on display that morning and in the afternoon we drove the race cars about a half-mile to the Cocoa High School football stadium where we would race on the oval around the football field. A lot of our Electrathon competitors aren't particularly fond of ovals, but as an old stock car racer, it's my "cup of tea". Also, my son and I tried something different this time; bump-drafting! I don't know if anybody else has ever done this in Electrathon, but the idea was intriguing and there is no rule against it, so I equipped our cars with front and rear bumpers to give it a try. I am happy to report that it works!! Even at our modest speeds, two cars slipping through one hole in the air is more efficient than two car running alone. It is typical for our cars to lose a couple of mph near the end of a race as our batteries begin to die. The bump draft allowed us to actually increase our race speed by about 1 mph while decreasing our amp draw. Because of that we were able to maintain constant speed until the end. We finished 2nd and 3rd in the first race. Cliff Rassweiler won with his high-tech 48 volt system.

For the second race, all the high school teams had withdrawn due to mechanical problems. The race organizers suggested (and we all voted unanimously) to run a 25-lap sprint and we were given extra time to change gears. We didn't do any bump-drafting in that race; it was every man for himself. At the drop of the green, my son and I rocketed away from the pack. I had the inside and the lead going into the first turn, but my son, with his slightly higher gear ratio, pulled ahead of me off the second turn. Then Rassweiler's 48 volt system showed its muscle again - he blew our doors off going down the backstretch and ran away with it. Late in the race we were both passed by Rodney Schreck from Miami, so we ended up 3rd and 4th. It took Rassweiler just 11 minutes and 7 seconds to complete the 25 laps. What fun!

The pic below shows us just before I made contact with Jim Jr's rear bumper. I don't have a pic of us actually hooked up.

On May 12 we went to Quitman, Georgia for our last race of this season. Quitman is about 4 hours away from my home and the race course is a real challenge (tough, but fun!). It is about 4/10 of a mile, has 7 turns, and some uphill and downhill areas. Bump-drafting is not practical on a course like this, so for this race I removed the bumpers. My son was not available for this weekend either, so I tapped my old friend and former stock car rival, Ralph Foss to drive for me again. (If you look back at the December race you'll see he won driving my #13 car.)

As expected, Cliff Rassweiler ran away from the field again in both races with his 48 volt system. Ralph and I put on a show for the spectators late in the first race. We were having a "tooth and nail" battle for position that went on for several laps. We were nose-to-tail and swapping positions every few laps. I finally prevailed and finished second with Ralph right behind. Rodney Schreck from Miami was fourth.

In the second race I messed up my strategy. In an effort to conserve my batteries until later in the race, I let the leaders get too far ahead and then couldn't catch them. I ended up fourth. Meanwhile Ralph and Rodney put on a spirited battle for second. Late in the race, while they were racing side-by-side, Ralph bumped the tire barrier with the right front wheel. He managed to eventually beat Rodney for second place, but afterward told me that the car was not handling right after his brush with the barrier...

I waited until I got home to check and measure the damage. I build these cars with 7 degrees positive caster and 7 degrees negative camber. The right end of the front axle was pushed back 1 1/2 inches and twisted. Caster measured 1 degree negative (a change of 8 degrees) and camber measured 1.5 degrees (a change of 5.5 degrees). No wonder it didn't feel right. In addition, the king pin boss was cracked loose at the top of the axle (see pic). Ralph had run about ten laps this way; another ten or twelve laps and there's a good chance it would have broken off!

At the end of the two races Rassweiler was first as expected, Ralph was second, I was third, and Rodney Schreck fourth. All the high school teams finished behind us!

Lucky it didn't break during the race and cause a lot more damage, Jim!!!!!!! Congrats on the great finishes, and tell your hired gun the same!!!! As long as you keep whoopin' the kids life is great, huh????

How long before everyone is running the 48 volt system and bump drafting? 8-)