Thread: Electrathon - A Different Kind of "Hotrod"

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Nice sets of races. Good finishes too. Hard to believe a little bump could do so much damage. Must of had some good momentum!

Dave - Thanks. Yes, it could have been catastophic depending on where on the track it broke... Yeah, it's fun when we old farts send the kids home scratching their heads and wondering how a bunch of old, overweight guys whipped 'em. Good question on the higher voltage systems - either a bunch of teams are going to be spending a bunch of money on batteries and controllers or there will have to be a separate class instituted for them. Only time will tell.

Steve - Apparently he whacked it pretty good. He was moving at a pretty good speed and that barrier was made of old, heavy 8-ply truck tires! The really surprising part, to me, is that the wheel suffered no damage. I've hit other things with these bicycle rims and had them bend and even had one collapse once!

I haven't checked in here in a while, so thought I should update. I used to get e-mail notices if someone posted to a thread I had commented in, but I don't get those notices any more for some reason... Anyway, I've been building a new car for a friend of mine (and fellow competitor); it's a copy of my copper #94 car. While I was at it, though, I decided to build another experimental car for myself. If you look back at the beginning of this thread, there is an orange & silver car that I had some decent success with back in 2005 - 2008. It was a good car, but a bit heavy. The new car will look very similar, but I am making internal changes to lighten the chassis & body while improving its reliability. Here's a pic of the chassis with no "clothes" on it yet. The seat back is just temporary to show battery location underneath. The steering column retracts forward for driver entry/egress. When I build the top hatch it will have a provision to lock the column in place when the hatch is closed.

Looks good Jim, always fun to play with a prototype!!!! When will the new car make it's debut???

Hi Dave. I'm not sure when, exactly. The new season starts in mid-October, but I've got to finish the "customer car" and do some updates on one for another fellow racer. If I get everything else done right away so I can get back to it... You know how that goes.

Originally Posted by J. Robinson

t... You know how that goes.

Yup, sure do, that's why I've got 5 of my projects in and around the shop, and a bunch more out at the Farm!!!!! I quit doing stuff for others, try to be a nice guy and............. well, you know....Sometimes no good deed goes unpunished!!!!

Always enjoyed this thread Jim

Originally Posted by stovens

Always enjoyed this thread Jim

X2! Missed your posts and glad to see this one! Thanx...

We ran our first race of the 2012-2013 season Saturday at Hillsborough Community College. My son was not available to drive, so I drafted an old friend from Indiana who is vacationing here to drive the #13 car. Also, my old original "Silver Bullet" car #86 (newly refurbished, painted, and on loan to a friend) made its debut. The #86 car dropped out of the second race early due to battery failure and got a DNF. The Electrocutioners #8 drove to first, I placed second in my #94, and my old friend drove the #13 to third. (Finishes are based on the total laps completed in two races combined.) Below is a pic of the lineup for the second race.

A neat deal, Jim! I see at ElectrathonAmerica.org that they mention races held nation wide, but I do not see any listing of events anywhere. Is there any calendar of events published? I did see pictures of a team in Nebraska on the website.

Great results again, Jim!!! Guess the old car still knows how to finish it's share of laps!!!!!

rspears - Here is a link to the calendar on the national website: Electrathon America Doesn't look like anyone has posted their races yet, though... Here is the link to the Tampa Bay site with races listed for Florida: Electrathon of Tampabay .

Thanks, Dave. Yeah, these things have been to all the tracks enough that they can almost drive themselves.

Originally Posted by J. Robinson

rspears - Here is a link to the calendar on the national website: Electrathon America Doesn't look like anyone has posted their races yet, though...

Jim,
I had pulled up that calendar, and was confused that it simply seemed to be a normal calendar denoting holidays, etc. It's good to know that it just hasn't been fleshed out with events yet. I'll have to check back in the Spring and see if there is anything near by.

We ran our second race of the season yesterday (12-8-2012) and had similar results to last month. The "Electrocutioners" #8 car won again. They beat me by one lap (total laps for the two races run) with a total of 126. I got second place with my #94 at 125 laps, and my son, Jim Jr, got third with the #13 at 123. He was leading the first race until he had a flat tire about 4 laps from the end; three spokes had broken and one of them punctured the inner tube. I ended up winning the first race by two laps. In the second race, Jim Jr lapped me twice to get back two of the four laps he lost in the first race. Unfortunately, the Electrocutioners lapped me three times to take the win by one lap. I gotta lose weight...

My old #86 car had chain problems in the first race. We did some sprocket and chain realignment between races and solved that issue, but 31 minutes into race 2 the motor started smoking and lost power. The reason is still in question. Ralph was running a gear ratio we have used many times before, so the motor was not overloaded. 30 minutes later, the motor was still too hot to touch! Apparently the windings are burned up, but why? Maybe something got in there and shorted it out somehow?? We'll take it to an electric motor guy we know and find out...

Next race January 19.

Great results again Jim other then the burnt up motor!!