Thread: Electrathon - A Different Kind of "Hotrod"

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HRD - Build one! Then you can come and race with us. I tooled the orange one around my neighborhood a few times. It really drew some curious looks. I'm sure it would have generated a mess of questions if I had stopped anywhere long enough.

Bob - You don't have to be young or small. I'm 61 years old and 227 lbs.
The reason I'm building myself a new car is because I outgrew the other one! We have a few of us "larger" guys who are wanting to race, so we are going to start a "heavy" class with a 225 pound "payload" minimum weight. As for running on the expressway.., you might get run over; these things sit so low you would be hard to see.

Sounds like a blast! It would be a shame to restrict these to the students just because 'we' happen to be a little "mature" (ie. heavy.)

Looking at the examples you have shown and the fact that the dominant car has no aerodynamics, do you think that lower weight is more important than lower wind resistance? Or is it a better motor/driveline efficiency that contributes to it's success?

I think you are right about the "Sun Day Challenge"......and it may well have been grade eight rather than high school. Memory is a bit hazy at times.

Originally Posted by RestoRod

...Looking at the examples you have shown and the fact that the dominant car has no aerodynamics, do you think that lower weight is more important than lower wind resistance? Or is it a better motor/driveline efficiency that contributes to it's success?

I think that's exactly it. At the low speeds we compete at most of the time, low friction and driveline efficiency is probably the key. That car was built by a father/son team, Dana & Lance Barlow, from south Florida who won the Human Powered Vehicle national competition a few years back. They definitely know a bit about making things light and friction free. Of course it doesn't hurt that Lance is an extremely competent and experienced driver... They have a body planned for the car, but haven't built it yet. There is a race scheduled for Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola on April 18. I don't know if the Barlows plan on running that race, but I would bet that if they're there, the car will have a body on it...