Thread: Electrathon - A Different Kind of "Hotrod"

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If you have been following my roadster build thread, you may have noticed a mention of something called Electrathon. This is something that I got involved in about six years ago with my students. Electrathon is a competition for purpose-built electric powered vehicles. These are not little toys or R/C cars; they are 3 or 4-wheeled vehicles that you can get in and drive. These also are not the $100,000+ solar experimentals that race across country every Spring. An Electrathon car may be built from a kit or completely scratch built. Although the kits can get pricey, depending on options, I have seen some very good competitive cars built from scratch for around $500! The final cost depends greatly on the ingenuity of the builder.

Although Electrathon is a great project for high school kids, it is not limited to them. Anyone who posesses a valid driver's license can participate in Electrathon. The races are "enduro style" which means that we race for a specified length of time (usually one hour). Whoever completes the greatest distance (most laps) in the designated time is the winner.

After the initial expense of obtaining or building a car, the upkeep and maintenence is really cheap. Most of the cars run bicycle tires in the $12 to $20 price range; how long they last depends on the surface we race on. Lube the chain, charge the batteries, slap on a couple of fresh tires and go race. At the end of the day we usually have spent $30 - $40. When I was racing stock cars, that wouldn't fill the fuel tank and tires were $110 each. Electrathon is just good cheap fun...

I recently sold one of my cars and have undertaken, with a couple of my students, to build a new one to replace it. Follow along on this thread and see how we do it. For more info on Electrathon cars and events, check out the Electrathon America website: www.electrathonamerica.org

The pic below is the start of a race a few years ago...