Thread: Electrathon - A Different Kind of "Hotrod"

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Well, once again I have been remiss in my reporting... As I predicted above, I had a schedule conflict and missed the April race at the Hillsborough State Fairgrounds. Everybody said I should be glad I missed it; the track was horribly rough and beat the cars up pretty badly. Then the final race of the year at Florida Solar Energy Center was cancelled because of a delay in getting liability insurance for the event. So.., the last race I ran was the one described on the previous page. I race-prepped the cars, as usual, and put them away for the summer.

September 26th brought the opening of this year's season at Hillsborough Community College. My son was not available, so I only took one car, my red & white #94. I won my class handily and finished only 5 laps shy of the winner in the Experimental Battery class. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Electrathon, the Exp Bat class uses Lithium Ion or Lithium Polymer batteries which are 50+ pounds lighter than my Optima batteries and have a different discharge cycle. Finishing only 5 laps behind the winner of that class is remarkable.

One of the college engineering clubs from USF was tired of me thrashing them at every event, so two weeks after that September race they bought my #94 car. I am currently building a replacement; this one is a sort of hybrid design. I am using my tried and true "Silver Bullet" style chassis (like my black #13 car), but I am enclosing the rear with the tapered body like the red car I just sold. This one will be lime green and white. I'll post pics when it's done.

Will match your coupe!

I finally finished the new car... the night before its first race. It always seems no matter how far in advance a project is begun, there is always barely enough time to get everything finished. Anyway, my son and I took the new #94 car and the old faithful #13 car to Tampa last Saturday (Nov 14) to do battle on the 1/4-mile oval around the Middleton HS football field. I had the cars appropriately geared for the large track and installed the removable bumpers so we could do a little "bump-drafting".

In the first race of the day everything went pretty much as planned. I picked my way through traffic in the opening laps until I caught up with Jim Jr. I put my bumper to his and pushed him through most of the next 40 minutes (there are always a few breaks from drafting to get through traffic). We were leading our class (Open, Standard Battery) with him officially scored 1st and me 2nd. With 20 minutes to go, I pulled up beside him and gave the signal to "GO". At that point we dialed up the throttles for the run to the end. At some point, Jim Jr took a turn at pushing me until we got into a pack of lapped cars and he retook the lead. With a minute to go (two laps) traffic worked to my advantage and I took the lead back and that's how we finished: me in 1st, Jim Jr in 2nd. Rodney Schreck came in 3rd, two laps down, and the USF guys (with the car they bought from me) in 4th just a few seconds behind Rodney.

For the second race the field was inverted, so I started ahead of my son. About 6 minutes into the run I overtook our teammate Rodney Schreck. His car is equipped with a rear bumper also, so I closed the gap and started pushing him. We did that for 4 or 5 laps until my right front tire suddenly went down. I ducked into the pits, pulled off the tire, and found a hole in the inner tube on the inside where it rides against the inner liner and spokes. I inspected the rim, but could find nothing wrong; no sharp edges, no broken spokes, no loose spokes, no metal shavings... I put the tire back on with a new inner tube and got back into the race. I had lost 14 minutes in the pits, so there was no need to conserve battery power - I dialed the throttle up all the way with the idea of logging as many laps as possible in the time left. I had fun for about another 6 or 7 minutes and the stupid tire went flat again! I limped back to the pits and became a spectator for the remainder of race two. It wasn't all bad, though, my son won the second race by a few laps. The USF team came in 2nd. Rodney had slowed down late in the race because he could see the cord starting to show in the tread of his right front tire. He nursed it home to a 3rd place finish. After the race his shredded tire was quite a topic of conversation. I doubt it would have made one more lap - these are two-ply tires and he had already worn through one layer of cord. I don't know how it was staying together...

The final tally for the day was Jim Jr in first place, the USF team in second 3 laps down, Rodney in third 5 laps down, and me in 4th by default (4 cars in our class)over 50 laps down. The nearest high school car was 26 laps behind the winner of our Open Class! The high school kids still can't figure out how a bunch of fat old guys outrun them so bad. Most of them have to add ballast to make minimum weight (180 pounds) while my son weighs in at 260 and I'm 243... Oh yeah, it wouldn't have mattered who won our class; it still looks good on me - I built all four cars...

Here's a pic of us lining up for race two - me in the new green car beside the red car I sold to USF. Notice the temporary front bumper. I'll post some better pics as soon as I shoot some.

Perhaps we need to start comparing you to Rick Hendrick or Jack Rousch!

Just Teasing! Congrats to you and your son.. And thanks for sharing the ride with us too.

Congrat Jim, Sounds like the new car is doing well despite the flats! You are a legend in your own time!!!!!!!

Did you ever find out what caused the flats?

Sorry for the delay, RestoRod; I was working on the "Honey-do list all last week... Actually, I never did find the exact cause. Both inner tubes had pinholes on the inside toward the spokes, but not at the same point in relation to the valve stem! I couldn't find any burrs in the rim spoke-holes and no protruding spokes. As a matter of precaution, I sanded all the spoke-hole edges with 80 grit paper and blew the dust out with 90psi compressed air. I reinstalled the rim strip and another new tube and the problem did not re-occur. It is possible that there was a metal shaving in there someplace that I never found. It's funny that it ran (and won) the entire first race and then the problem showed up in the second race. That's what makes me think it might have been a metal shaving. It probably stayed lodged between the double walls of the rim at first, but finally worked loose and got into a position to cause trouble.

Well, last Saturday (Dec. 12) was a rough day at the races. My son, Jim Jr, and I took the new green car and the faithful old black car to Plant City, Florida to race at the Simmons Career Center. It was a short, tight course which always makes for interesting racing, but it was so bumpy that it was actually physically painful to race on. In the first race, Jim Jr drove the #13 car to first place, a matter of seconds over Rodney Schreck. I finished a distant 3rd, three laps down. I was so beat up after the race that I had great difficulty climbing out of my car. All the drivers were complaining of the track's condition...

Between races I added some padding under my seat and on my headrest to change my position in the car slightly. I was hoping it would help with comfort in the car - it did slightly, but not enough. I lasted 14 minutes into the second race. My left arm and hand was weakened so much from the beating in the first race that I kept losing my grip on the "dead-man switch". Also, I do this for fun and I wasn't having any. All I was getting was more painful beating and jolting and, at my age, it takes too long to heal. I drove into the pits and quit - the only time in my life I have ever quit a race with a race-worthy car! Meanwhile, my son was leading with Rodney Schreck and the USF car (that I recently sold them) close behind. They were putting on a pretty good battle when, with 13 minutes to go, Jim Jr's left front tire popped and ended his attempt at another win.

When the day's laps were counted, Rodney Schreck was first. Jim Jr turned enough laps for 2nd place. The USF team got 3rd and I was a very distant 4th out of four cars in our class. It's Monday morning now and I'm still nursing bruised elbows (from their beating on the roll bar), but it's not all bad news. I have a solid offer from one of the schools to buy both of my cars and another inquiry by another school to build them a new one! Looks like I could be very busy in the next few weeks...

I've been remiss in my reporting again... Simmons Career Center did buy my cars. I delivered them when school resumed after Christmas break. I almost decided to retire from Electrathon completely, but it's just so darn much fun and I was already having seller's remorse by the time I got home from delivering the cars to the new owners. Also, a few days later, another school bought my original prototype car that was hanging on my shop wall.

So.., after taking inventory of the stuff I had left over I decided to build another car. I missed the January race at Wharton High School, but after thrashing 10 - 12 hours a day for the 3 weeks preceding it, I finally finished my new car about 9:00 PM the night before its first race. Saturday Feb 20 I made the trek to University of South Florida in Tampa with my old friend Jerry Bristow, former IKF go-kart champion. I let him drive the first race of the day; my reasoning was if anything needed quick repair I was better prepared to do it since I built the thing. About 15 minutes into the run, the chain jumped off! That almost never happens with #40 chain, but it did. He coasted into the pits and we discovered that the chain was sloppy loose (it didn't start out that way!) We adjusted the tension and sent him back into the fray. He finished the remaining time, but lost too many laps to make up - finished 3rd in our class out of 3 cars.

For the second race I took the controls. We had checked and tweaked all the spokes on the new wheels between races and fixed a slow leak in the left front tire. I went into the race confident that we had solved all our "new car blues" and I had a shot at a possible 2nd place finish, but it was not to be. About 15 minutes into the hour the chain jumped off again. I coasted to the pits and we discovered that the chain was sloppy loose again! Also, now the sprockets were out of alignment. This is a new occurrence for me; I normally never have chain problems. Apparently the motor mount is moving and allowing the chain to loosen. We were credited with 3rd place again. I will tear into it soon and find out why it's moving, but the motor mount in this car is built exactly like the last five and they never had a problem...

Meantime, as soon as I can resize them I will post some pics here.

100_1961a.jpg

OK, these are the cars I sold to Simmons Career Center. The black #13 car was built in 2010 and has had a pretty successful history. The only times it ever finished outside the top 3 was when it had mechanical or tire problems. Whenever it ran uninterrupted it was always in the top 3 and several of those were wins. Its latest victory was at Middleton in November and it was leading at Simmons in Decenber when it blew the left front tire and ended up 3rd.

The green & white car was brand new in November. I debuted it at Middleton where I won the first race, but had a flat in the second race and ended up 3rd on the day (out of 5 cars in class). At Simmons in December I finished 3rd in the first race, but withdrew 18 minutes into the second race because the track was so rough it injured my left elbow and I couldn't keep my grip on the "dead-man" power switch. I received the purchase order for both cars the week after that race.

Here is my newest car. I shot this of Jerry Bristow driving shortly before the chain came off in the first race. This car is the same design as the green & white car in the last post. Jerry and I finished installing the rear view mirrors and lettering about 9:00 PM on Friday night. We each had one quick trip up the side street earlier in the day, but that wasn't enough to reveal the chain problem that would plague us later on Saturday.

Welcome back! I'm glad you're continuing on the electric car circuit, because I love these posts! Keep us posted!

Times 2!! I just enjoy reading your posts! Glad to learn you're still gonna race.

Well, I've just been relaxing and biding my time. Took my wife on a Caribbean cruise and I picked up the frame for my '32 roadster build. I was just saying to my wife yesterday that I better get the new blue car ready for the April race. Then I suddenly got an e-mail from a school up in Georgia inquiring if I had any Electrathon cars for sale and what is the price... So it looks like I may miss the April race because they want it and I'm going to be "carless" again! I guess I'll be thrashing another car together for the last two races of the season in May. Maybe I should build two at a time..?

Originally Posted by J. Robinson

Wel So it looks like I may miss the April race because they want it and I'm going to be "carless" again! I guess I'll be thrashing another car together for the last two races of the season in May. Maybe I should build two at a time..?

There are worse problems to have right?? I think it's great that you've developed a reputation and your cars are in demand. Thats way cool!!!