Electrathon America Forum

It was speed week on the salt flats September 2008. the fastest run was 110.xx (not sure of the exact speed). My first run was about 105 mph and when I went to pick up the speed ticket the guy asked me how fast I thought I went and I said "about 80?"  I had no concept of how fast I actually went. I was so low to the ground  and there is so little to see other then salt that it is hard to grasp a frame of reference. There is a turnout at the end of the track that is laid out with cones but  the electrathon coasts so much better then many vehicles I was still going 100 mph when it came up. It was so sudden on my first run I tried to make it but spun out, did about a 720 degree rotation. I did not even lift a tire, let alone role over. The vehicles my father designs are incredibly safe and I've never felt in danger, even at 100+ mph.  I was required to go through tech again as procedure but the car was still perfect.   The next four runs all went smoothly. I hit various numbers between 105 and 110. The last two being  110.  The following 4 runs I just shot past the cones that were meant to be the end because I was going so fast  I didn't want to try and make the turn.  It was an awesome experience. So cool to watch the all the different vehicles do runs.  Michael Lewis was also there but I don't think he ever broke 100, he was afraid and said his car shook a lot.  

It was the first time we ran the blue car in any sort of race. As far as design and building my dad could field those questions best.  My dad made a trip of the whole thing. We went to a race in southern Oregon the weekend before. Drove for hours to the salt flats for speed week. Then I flew home for school but he continued  to the race in Kansas  that was 3 weeks later and set up shop and worked on the cars until I flew out to Kansas and raced.  Quite the month. 

My dad as I both want to break 200 mph in an electric vehicle. It will not be an electrathon, most likely. But the next goal is to hit that 200 mph mile marker in an electric vehicle. 

(I'm answering on my phone so it might have some typos. Also, happy to answer any other questions!)

-- Edited by ShannonCloud on Monday 23rd of September 2013 12:42:51 AM

For the record, I did beak 100 mph, and I was afraid. I braked hard on the half mile of ungroomed salt in order to turn where we were instructed to. This caused the front wheels to lock up while bouncing, which caused the car to fishtail dramatically. I corrected enough to make it around the cones, but I was shaken...I do not like being out of control. There were small potholes in the salt. My rear wheel dropped into one at some point, because the bodywork immediately in front of it was smashed. Shannon and I were lucky we didn't catch one of those while spinning, as it could very well have flipped us. At 100 mph, in any car, that is a good reason to be afraid.

Again, for the record, our runs at Bonneville had nothing to do with Electrathon America. That was not one hour of competition, it was one mile !  That was drag racing, the ANTI-Electrathon. There was no question that we could ever use the amount of power available, the question was how much do you dare give to our motor. I had the one motor, and knowing that we would be in Kansas for a real Electrathon in two weeks, I decided to limit it to 200 amps at 48 volts, or about 12 horsepower. Dave had several, and gave it 300 amps (19 horsepower)...those Lynch motors are tougher than we thought. 

I went on to set the Electrathon National Record in Kansas: 58 miles (and still the track record), then raised it to 62 miles in Michigan a year later. It still stands. In a way, it can't be broken, as the battery weight rule has been increased since then.