Agreed,

I am trying to be flexible with the batteries so that if they don't work I can fallback to standand SLA batteries.

On the other hand from my limited research it seems that most of the students and teachers involved in electrathon are gearheads No one has really looked into alternative batteries past the price and potential danger. A safe, DIY, battery for under $100 might provide interesting options.

If the experimental class becomes boring, I was thinking about implementing some sort of handicap like golfers use. My first thoughts were to self limit the available energy the vehicle uses until it performs on par with other cars.