Thread: Electrathon - A Different Kind of "Hotrod"

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We had our 2021-'22 season opening race yesterday (9-11-21). After a brief memorial ceremony commemorating 9-11, 10 cars took the first green flag of the season. I took both of my cars to this race at Hillsborough Community College. Ryan Norden drove my purple "Silver Bullet" car #94 in the Open class and I drove the #13 converted go-kart in the Advanced Battery class.

The Open class was very competitive with 5 cars running closely all day. Ryan finished in second behind our good friend and sometimes teammate, Rodney Schreck. I got a third place out of three cars in the Advanced Battery class.

Since the last race I have made several adjustments to the go-kart to improve its handling. It performed pretty well, but I ran out of battery power at 52 minutes in both races. According to folks more knowledgeable than me about Lithium batteries, they need to be run through at least 5 charge/discharge cycles before they reach their full potential. I was using brand new batteries, so they did pretty much what was expected.

I'll post some pictures later if I can get some from somebody. Since I was busy driving one car and servicing both between races I wasn't able to take any myself.

The Electrathon of Florida group had a race at Plant City, October 9, on the parking lot road course, but I didn't attend; I had another obligation that day.

On November 6th we had our annual "Dash Races" at Plant City high school on their oval track around the football field. For the Dash Races, the usual 1-hour race format is suspended and we run short races of 20 minutes each. Instead of finessing batteries to last for a full hour, we are able to run at much faster speeds. Jerry Bristow from Indiana was here to drive my purple #94 car in the Open Standard Battery class. He easily dominated both Open class races and took first place in that class. I took the converted go-kart again to run in Advanced Battery class. In the first race I placed 4th of 4 cars, about 3 laps behind the 3rd place car. Rodney Schreck drove it in the second race and the key stock came out of the rear axle sprocket hub on the 12th lap, sidelining him for the remainder of that race.

Every year at this event, between the regular races, the organizers have a race for sponsors and officials. Since I was entered only in the Advanced Battery class as a driver this day, I was able to drive my other (purple) car in the sponsor's race. Jerry had already run his first race with the batteries in the car, so we weren't sure how long they would last. When the green flag dropped I jumped into the lead. A few laps later, David Kocher, the teacher/mentor from Plant City, passed me. A few more laps and I passed him back. It was fun while it lasted... He pulled alongside a couple of laps later and we ran side-by-side for a few laps, neither of us able to get an advantage. Then my batteries started to wane and I began losing speed. David pulled away then and began stretching his lead. At the end he beat me by a full lap and a half. I finished in 2nd place with Todd Thuma right on my tail.

All together it was a fun day. I think I may retire the go-kart, though. This was the third time I have run it and it simply isn't meeting my expectations. I already have a spare "Silver Bullet" chassis that I can finish up and then transfer the motor and controller from the go-kart to it. Time will tell; I need to give it some more thought...

And Lucky 13 just doesn't have "The Look" that your other cars have. fwiw!

OK, I did it. I have officially retired the converted go-kart and replaced it with one of my "Silver Bullet" chassis. I hadn't intended to do it so soon; I thought I might get around to it after Christmas, maybe in time for the USF race in February... But then my old "snow bird" friend, Jerry Bristow showed up for his winter visit and prodded me into jumping into this project with both feet. On Saturday December 4th we took this unfinished frame down off my shop wall and started work on it. By the end of the first day I had fabricated the rear swing arm and Jerry cut and shaped the front axle components. I finished all the welding on the formerly "tacked together" frame and we were well on our way. First pic below is the frame as it appeared after Saturday's effort.

We took Sunday off for other family obligations and got back to work on Monday. By dividing the tasks at hand, we made pretty good progress. Jerry isn't an experienced fabricator, but he's good at following instructions and a fast learner. By Friday afternoon we had the car far enough along to race it. It still lacked the tail panels and cowl, but it was complete enough to race; we made it to the December 11 race. The second pic below shows it at this stage.

I wish I could tell you all that it performed perfectly and I had a great day at the races, but it wasn't meant to be. As it turned out I led the first 5 laps of the first race and then it threw the chain off. I spent about 30 minutes in the pits tinkering with sprocket alignment and idler tension and rejoined the race with about 20 minutes to go. After about 5 or 6 more laps it threw the chain again. Between races we fiddled with it some more, but 12 minutes into the second race the chain departed the sprockets again and I parked it. As it turns out, the problem was the motor mount. I made it from the same 10-gauge steel I've used in the past, but the Motenergy ME-909 motor has more torque than my old Etek motor and it was flexing the motor mount enough to pull the sprocket out of alignment. Thanks to Keven Dye for pointing out the problem - he had the same issue with his car!

So, I ended up getting second place in the Advanced Battery division because there were only two of us in the class! Meanwhile, Jerry won the Open Standard class in my purple car, beating Rodney Schreck by one lap. This week I cut out the motor mount and replaced it with one made from 1/4 inch plate steel. Preliminary tests in the street show the problem is solved. Next race is January 8.

Lucky 13 looks like a winner, Jim! I know you've told us before but it's too difficult to search specifics on here, at least for me. What type of tubing do you use for the frame? TIG welded?

I use EMT conduit and weld it with a wire-feed welder using flux core wire. I use 3/4" conduit for the roll cage and the main tube of the front axle. The rest is 1/2" conduit. The main side rails are triangulated for strength and rigidity. The body sides are .025" aluminum "kick panel" normally used in screened porch installations and the tops of the nose and tail are made from .060" polycarbonate plastic (Lexan). I cut them to fit and rivet in place, so they become structural members and add to the overall strength of the "tub".

EMT conduit is, of course, just mild steel thin wall tubing that has been zinc coated. It welds best with flux core wire. I have used regular MIG on some of it in the past and the zinc splatters and interrupts the arc. The flux core wire welds more consistently because the spattering zinc doesn't affect the arc.

I have built 18 cars since 2004. A couple of them have taken violent flips and the roll cages have held up fine. Both of those cars, after some repairs to other components, are still competing.

I thought I remembered the EMT conduit, but I wasn't sure about welding it with any strength. Sounds like you've proven it to be good for the service, and using the flux core wire to offset the zinc is a good idea! I welded a bunch of rigid conduit that was galvanized, making deck railing sections, and didn't consider flux core. I do remember the fumes giving me mild flu-like symptoms for a half day or more....

Here is a series of pics showing one of the cars I built that took a nasty flip. I originally built this car to order for the Electrical Engineering group at the University of South Florida (Tampa) [Pic 1]. The car was an instant winner.

Then they let an inexperienced person drive it in a "celebrity and sponsors" race. When the idiot ran into a turn at full throttle, the car "bicycled" up on two wheels, hooked the chain link fence, did an end-over-end somersault, landed on the roll cage, and then flipped side-over-side and came to rest upright. The damage was extensive [Pic 2]. Fortunately, the driver was totally unhurt. If you look closely, you can see where the paint is scraped off the roll cage.

The car was brought to me the day after the crash (Sunday); it was scheduled to leave the following morning for a trip to race in Pensacola and then Alabama. The full weight of the car and driver had landed on the cage and, according to my measuring tape, it only moved 1/4 inch! I cut the damaged rear body and supports off, trimmed the rear section off the broken canopy, and set about straightening the front of the frame. After pushing the frame back into shape with a hydraulic post jack, I cut off the right half of the front axle and fabricated a new piece. Five hours after the car arrived at my shop, it was ready to race again [Pic3]. The USF team took the car to Pensacola and Alabama and won their class (Advanced Battery) at both events. The car still looks like this today and is still competing.

Love the black, looks stealth! I bet it gets hot though with the Florida sunshine and humidity! Very cool that you were able to get it back on the track so quickly! Built well Obviously!

I'm a little slow to report our latest results; I was waiting to get some pictures...

As I said above - after the December 11th race I cut out the 1/8 x 5-inch plate motor mount and replaced it with 1/4 x 6 plate. Our next race, and the first one of 2022, was a return to Plant City High School's front parking lot on January 8,2022. This is a long front straightaway and a backstretch with a double chicane, joined at the ends with hairpin turns. It's a bit tricky for first-timers because it's easy to overdrive the turns after such long straights. Once a driver learns the patience required to run this course, it's not too bad. It is, however, hard on tires and spokes.

My new #13 car, with all its bodywork in place this time, performed flawlessly all day. I finished both races with a little battery power to spare. Unfortunately, the driver (me) was not as flawless as the car. At the drop of the green flag, and after the first turn, I realized I had forgotten to put on my gloves! Gloves are required for drivers of open-cockpit cars. I knew I was in violation of this safety regulation, and I wondered how long it would take for the race officials to catch me. The answer is 13 minutes... Yep, 13 minutes into the first race I got black-flagged. I had to go into the pits, find my gloves (I was sitting on them!), and put them on. By the time I got out of the car, donned my gloves, and got strapped back in (with the help of the Plant City emergency crew), I had lost about 6 minutes. Those 6 minutes put me about 9 laps behind the second place car and a bunch more behind the leader. A deficit like that is almost impossible to recover from, so I just took it easy for the rest of the race. Since our overall finish for the day is a total of both races, I began the second race with a significant handicap. The only hope I could have was for one of the other Advanced Battery cars to have a problem that would sideline them for a while so I could make up the lost laps. It didn't happen - all three of us finished both races, so I got another 3rd place, more or less by default.

Meanwhile, Jerry Bristow drove my purple #94 car in the Open Standard Battery class. In the first race he beat Rodney Schreck by 2 laps. In the second race, Rodney beat Jerry by 2 laps. That gave them the same number of total laps! So how do the race officials break a tie? They use the two competitors' total elapsed times. Rodey beat Jerry by 0.16 second - the closest finish in Electrathon Florida history!

The race above was run on January 8th, 2022. The next race, last weekend, was run on February 19th. This was our yearly visit to University of South Florida in Tampa. The USF race has been a popular venue for years and usually has a good turnout. This year was no exception as 14 cars took the green flag. There were 4 cars in the Open Standard class, 4 cars in the Advanced Battery class and 6 High School class cars.

Jerry Bristow, in my purple #94, finished second in the first Open Standard race, two and one-half laps behind winner Rodney Schreck. In the second race, Jerry finished second again giving him an overall second place in the Open Standard class.

In the Advanced Battery class, the #48 USF car encountered a brake problem and only completed one lap. Shortly after the halfway point I was considering dropping out to save tires. I figured the best I could do was 3rd place; after all, the #48 car was out and couldn't possibly make up all their lost laps. The #039 car was leading by several laps and #444 Fortuna was also ahead of me by a few laps I could never recover. About the time I was about to head for the pits, the #039 car suddenly stopped. Now I figured I might as well stay on the track and make up some of the laps I was down, so I stayed in the race. When the checkers flew, I was firmly in second place.

Between races it was revealed that the #039 had broken the end off his armature shaft! I sked the driver, Cliff Rassweiler, if he would like to drive my car in the second race. He agreed and, after a scramble to find ballast (he's over 100 pounds lighter than me!), he drove my #13 car to a strong first place finish. Altogether, the #13 car ended up second in the Advanced Battery class for the day. Cliff and I will be listed as co-drivers in the official results.

After my last Electrathon update I was vacillating on which car I would drive at the April 9th Brandon race because Jerry, my other driver, was scheduled to go back home to Indiana. After some consideration I settled on the purple #94 car. It’s a proven competitive front-runner, so it wasn’t really a difficult decision. It proved to be the right decision as I finished a strong second in the Open Standard Battery class. The surprising part is I didn’t get beat by my good friend, Rodney Schreck, as usual (He had battery problems). Instead, I got thrashed by a 14-year-old girl driving her first race!!... OK, so she and her car have an 80-pound weight advantage on me and mine, so her batteries don’t run down as quick, but she’s got finesse and the nerve of a much more experienced driver. I was impressed. Anyway, 2nd out of five cars in our class is better than 3rd out of three in Advanced Battery class, so I'm pleased.

13 year old's can be surprising! Glad you've got some competition!

First, a correction! Breanna Dye, the young lady who whipped us all at Brandon was 15, not 14. Since that last event I think she may have turned 16. Anyway, she is a competent driver and a force to be reckoned with as she proved at our season finale.

OK, let me digress... There was an event at Plant City on April 30th that I did not attend (other family obligation).

Our season-ending race took place on May 7th at Mulberry High School (Mulberry, Florida) on a brand-new parking lot. It was a large layout, and the new asphalt was as smooth as could be. I took my purple Open Class car again, so there were 5 cars in Open Class. The first race was halted at 50 minutes due to rain. Rodney Schreck finished 1st, Breanna Dye finished 1 lap down in second, and I ran 3rd, four laps behind the winner.

In the second race, Rodney won again with Breanna second and me in third, all on the same lap. We had exchanged the lead a few times, but in the end, as our batteries started to wane, Rodney pulled ahead and that's how we finished. Breanna was about 10 seconds behind Rodney and I was 31 seconds behind her.

After the races we adjourned to the local VFW post for our year-end banquet and awards presentations. My purple car #94 was awarded 2nd place in season points (Open Standard Battery class) and my red #13 car took 3rd in season points (Advanced Battery class).

In our Electrathon format, each event is comprised of two races run back-to-back. The total laps of both races determine your finishing order for the day. My purple #94 car was entered in 7 events this year for a total of 14 races. Ryan Norden drove the first two races and finished 2nd. Jerry Bristow drove eight races and got 4 wins and 4 seconds. I drove the final 4 races and got 2 seconds and 2 thirds.
My red #13 cars were entered in 5 events for a total of 10 races. Rodney Schreck drove the converted go-kart in one race and got a 4th place (DNF- sprocket key). Cliff Rassweiler drove the new car in one race and won! I drove both cars in the remaining races with a combination of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place finishes.

We're all done now until mid-September when we start the 2022-23 season. If the good Lord lets me stay alive and keep my mental and physical faculties, I'll be there!

Congrats Jim. This is one of my favorite threads!