Electrathon America Forum

ProEV · ProEV

Hi, Here are some pictures of the ex-factory Blue Sky Design Aero Coupe. My understanding is they raced it once before putting it up for sale. We purchased it in 2011 and having been racing and modifying it since. The way they did the body made a very slick low drag design but with some cost to driver ergon...

Archer321 · Archer321

My first car had a styrofoam body made out of 1/2" blue insulation from Lowe's. I formed it over a schedule 20 PVC frame and glued it together with white gorilla glue. In order to make it more durable and to take paint, I coated it with Styrospray 1000 which is a difficult to obtain industrial coating. T...

SimonH · SimonH

I was Hoping to get some ideas on what others are doing with there tire track, how far apart the tires are. Is there any benefits to having them only 2 feat apart other then for a lower aerodynamic footprint.

MrPat · MrPat

We are building an aluminum frame this year. Is the aluminum strong enough to be used for the roll cage? We are using 1" x 1/8" wall thickness. Thanks!

ElectricStreamliner · ElectricStreamliner

Hello I recently discovered electrathon. At first I was surprised that horizontally and vertically symmetrical airfoil shaped bodies where not being used. Add on a pair of airfoil profile a arms and airfoil profile wheel fairings and you'd have the lowest possible drag coefficient. But this i...

Nitoragro · Nitoragro

Down here in Tampa a lot of cars are made of EMT conduit, especially the Robinson cars (Meangreen). But my teacher is very hesitant with it because it is galvanized and creates toxic fumes when welding, but it can be MIG welded. But aluminum is also popular but we don't have the money for a TIG welder or th...

Nitoragro · Nitoragro

I notice a lot of the faster and really cool looking cars have fiberglass/carbon fiber bodies, how are those made, what are the molds made of. Where can I buy the actual fiber glass sheets and glue? Thanks, Ryan

Nitoragro · Nitoragro

On a cycle car putting on rear suspension is simple but I know on mountain bikes when they have shocks on the back wheel you loose power. How does this affect electrathons? Will it loose power, or since it is all flat it will just make the ride more comfortable without loosing power.

Nitoragro · Nitoragro

I know with weight on cycle cars about 60% of the weight should be on the front axle and about 40% goes on the rear wheel but we are modifying our car. It had 4 wheels and the batteries were placed on my sides, 3 on each side (each about 10 pounds). In my profile picture you can see the car wings where the batter...

Nitoragro · Nitoragro

My team currently have a 4 wheel car with the front wheels only steering, and we want to change it to a tricycle. But I've been reading tricycles are unstable unless balanced correctly. Most of the cars weight is in the back, we use 6 batteries, each about 10 pounds, and they are all in the center of the whe...

Nitoragro · Nitoragro

I am looking to buy a small windshield for my #80 car but I don't have the tools to make one, is there a place to buy a small windshield that would fit?

Nitoragro · Nitoragro

My school is building our second car, this one a cycle car, our first had four wheels and we just fixed it so we are still new to building, so my team has a few questions: What type of axle should we get? How much support would be needed? (The weight will be around 60% back 40% back, the best we could get...

Zahrack · Zahrack

After seeing the 2014 rules for the nose cone I'll have to admit that I was a bit disappointed. I made a post on it in the 2013/2014 changes section on this forum, for those who wish to see it. However, after seeing mhodgertt's response post, I was encouraged to do some research of my own into pointed nose...

Zaine Stapleton · Zaine Stapleton

I'm thinking of making a tail cone for PIR this coming weekend for the Memorial day weekend race. I know the general idea of what shape it's suppose to be, basically tapers or sweeps towards the back tire so the airstream can pass by the car without any turbulance behind the car (also known as drag in avi...

Zaine Stapleton · Zaine Stapleton

I guess this would go into the Aerodynamics/body design section. How important is it to have the same or close to the same weight on all three wheels? Does it have an effect on how the car handles depending on where the batteries, motor, controller, ballast weight, and the driver are at? I tried keep...

Zaine Stapleton · Zaine Stapleton

I have wheel covers on my car covering all three wheels. It does make a huge difference in my opinion on short or long tracks for how fast you are going. The main advantage is the spokes are not creating more drag by churning the air when the wheel(s) are spinning when the car is driving. The top cars (corre...

John Bass

Does anyone have an OpenFOAM or Caedium model setup up for their EA car that they would be willing to share? I would like to demo this design technology for some students, and give them the tools to evaluate low drag designs with. John Bass, Sr. Engineer, DMS Design http://www.symscape.com/examples...

electrathon · electrathon

We had an interesting situation happen this year at a few of out races. Many of the cars are assembled using sheet metal creaws to hold the body panels on. Electrathons can be a rough and vibrating ride. Well, we had a number of flat tires that were found to have sheet metal screws in them. It seems the...

electrathon · electrathon

I see a lot of cars that are sitting low to the ground to try to increase the aerodynamics of the car. I will first admit I am not a mathmatician, possibly someone who is can give more insite here. What I would like to comment on is that the cars are designed to sit so low to the ground that they tend to rub the...

meangreen · Nathan McCaw

Hey the rules say that you cant use paper for you body... but can you use paper meshe and put some paint over it to seal it?

Zaine Stapleton · Zaine Stapleton

Hi, where would be a good place to go to get side mirror for electrathon racing? The mirrors on my car are too small and wouldn't meet the rule requirement for the eight inches square, any suggestions? Thanks.

electrathon · electrathon

Most Electrathons do not have suspension. Many tracks are rough (race in the NW, some very rough). An easy way to make a lightweight seat is to take a plastic trash bag. Spray some spray foam in it (you will need to decide how much you need). Close the bag and set it in the floorboard of the car. Sit in i...

meangreen · Avi Maletz

I'm thinking of what to use for the body panels on my car. The only thing I can think of that would be really feasible is plastic cut and bolted on. This doesn't seem very light or aerodynamic. Does anyone have any other ideas about how to cover my frame?

Topic		Started By	Replies	Views	Last Post
	Blue Sky design body mods (Preview) Hi, Here are some pictures of the ex-factory Blue Sky Design Aero Coupe. My understanding is they raced it once before putting it up for sale. We purchased it in 2011 and having been racing and modifying it since. The way they did the body made a very slick low drag design but with some cost to driver ergon...	ProEV	1	786	Jan 27, 2022 by Archer321
	Styrofoam body (Preview) My first car had a styrofoam body made out of 1/2" blue insulation from Lowe's. I formed it over a schedule 20 PVC frame and glued it together with white gorilla glue. In order to make it more durable and to take paint, I coated it with Styrospray 1000 which is a difficult to obtain industrial coating. T...	Archer321	2	1500	Jan 29, 2021 by Archer321
	Wheel Placement (Preview) I was Hoping to get some ideas on what others are doing with there tire track, how far apart the tires are. Is there any benefits to having them only 2 feat apart other then for a lower aerodynamic footprint.	SimonH	1	808	Jul 11, 2020 by Archer321
	Building an aluminum frame question (Preview) We are building an aluminum frame this year. Is the aluminum strong enough to be used for the roll cage? We are using 1" x 1/8" wall thickness. Thanks!	MrPat	2	1662	Dec 5, 2017 by MrPat
	Why no vertically symetrical airfoil bodies? (Preview) Hello I recently discovered electrathon. At first I was surprised that horizontally and vertically symmetrical airfoil shaped bodies where not being used. Add on a pair of airfoil profile a arms and airfoil profile wheel fairings and you'd have the lowest possible drag coefficient. But this i...	ElectricStreamliner	11	3044	Jun 26, 2017 by Brendan_Smith
	Frame Material (Preview) Down here in Tampa a lot of cars are made of EMT conduit, especially the Robinson cars (Meangreen). But my teacher is very hesitant with it because it is galvanized and creates toxic fumes when welding, but it can be MIG welded. But aluminum is also popular but we don't have the money for a TIG welder or th...	Nitoragro	9	2549	Nov 2, 2016 by Zaine Stapleton
	Fiberglass Body (Preview) I notice a lot of the faster and really cool looking cars have fiberglass/carbon fiber bodies, how are those made, what are the molds made of. Where can I buy the actual fiber glass sheets and glue? Thanks, Ryan	Nitoragro	2	2352	Nov 19, 2015 by mhodgertt
	Rear suspension (Preview) On a cycle car putting on rear suspension is simple but I know on mountain bikes when they have shocks on the back wheel you loose power. How does this affect electrathons? Will it loose power, or since it is all flat it will just make the ride more comfortable without loosing power.	Nitoragro	9	2673	Jun 11, 2015 by Brendan_Smith
	Battery Placement (Preview) I know with weight on cycle cars about 60% of the weight should be on the front axle and about 40% goes on the rear wheel but we are modifying our car. It had 4 wheels and the batteries were placed on my sides, 3 on each side (each about 10 pounds). In my profile picture you can see the car wings where the batter...	Nitoragro	0	1544	May 5, 2015 by Nitoragro
	Car transfermation (Preview) My team currently have a 4 wheel car with the front wheels only steering, and we want to change it to a tricycle. But I've been reading tricycles are unstable unless balanced correctly. Most of the cars weight is in the back, we use 6 batteries, each about 10 pounds, and they are all in the center of the whe...	Nitoragro	3	1797	Feb 23, 2015 by Nitoragro
	windshield (Preview) I am looking to buy a small windshield for my #80 car but I don't have the tools to make one, is there a place to buy a small windshield that would fit?	Nitoragro	0	1514	Jan 16, 2015 by Nitoragro
	Rear Fork (Preview) My school is building our second car, this one a cycle car, our first had four wheels and we just fixed it so we are still new to building, so my team has a few questions: What type of axle should we get? How much support would be needed? (The weight will be around 60% back 40% back, the best we could get...	Nitoragro	1	1619	Jan 11, 2015 by mhodgertt
	Nose Area General Shape (Preview) After seeing the 2014 rules for the nose cone I'll have to admit that I was a bit disappointed. I made a post on it in the 2013/2014 changes section on this forum, for those who wish to see it. However, after seeing mhodgertt's response post, I was encouraged to do some research of my own into pointed nose...	Zahrack	0	2647	May 3, 2014 by Zahrack
	Tailcone general shape (Preview) I'm thinking of making a tail cone for PIR this coming weekend for the Memorial day weekend race. I know the general idea of what shape it's suppose to be, basically tapers or sweeps towards the back tire so the airstream can pass by the car without any turbulance behind the car (also known as drag in avi...	Zaine Stapleton	1	6112	May 24, 2011 by August Frank
	Weight Distrubution (Preview) I guess this would go into the Aerodynamics/body design section. How important is it to have the same or close to the same weight on all three wheels? Does it have an effect on how the car handles depending on where the batteries, motor, controller, ballast weight, and the driver are at? I tried keep...	Zaine Stapleton	2	5698	Nov 19, 2010 by stan r
	Wheel Covers (Preview) I have wheel covers on my car covering all three wheels. It does make a huge difference in my opinion on short or long tracks for how fast you are going. The main advantage is the spokes are not creating more drag by churning the air when the wheel(s) are spinning when the car is driving. The top cars (corre...	Zaine Stapleton	5	5449	Oct 26, 2010 by Kirk Swaney
	CFD Models? OpenFOAM or Caedium Pro? (Preview) Does anyone have an OpenFOAM or Caedium model setup up for their EA car that they would be willing to share? I would like to demo this design technology for some students, and give them the tools to evaluate low drag designs with. John Bass, Sr. Engineer, DMS Design http://www.symscape.com/examples...	John Bass	0	2922	Sep 13, 2010 by John Bass
	Pop rivets verses screws (Preview) We had an interesting situation happen this year at a few of out races. Many of the cars are assembled using sheet metal creaws to hold the body panels on. Electrathons can be a rough and vibrating ride. Well, we had a number of flat tires that were found to have sheet metal screws in them. It seems the...	electrathon	2	3230	Jun 6, 2010 by Vic
	aerodynamics verses friction (Preview) I see a lot of cars that are sitting low to the ground to try to increase the aerodynamics of the car. I will first admit I am not a mathmatician, possibly someone who is can give more insite here. What I would like to comment on is that the cars are designed to sit so low to the ground that they tend to rub the...	electrathon	5	4731	Apr 6, 2010 by electrathon
	Body of the car (Preview) Hey the rules say that you cant use paper for you body... but can you use paper meshe and put some paint over it to seal it?	Nathan McCaw	11	4268	Jan 23, 2010 by meangreen
	Side miorrors that are legal in size? (Preview) Hi, where would be a good place to go to get side mirror for electrathon racing? The mirrors on my car are too small and wouldn't meet the rule requirement for the eight inches square, any suggestions? Thanks.	Zaine Stapleton	7	4125	Jan 21, 2010 by Nathan McCaw
	How to make a seat to keep your bottom happy (Preview) Most Electrathons do not have suspension. Many tracks are rough (race in the NW, some very rough). An easy way to make a lightweight seat is to take a plastic trash bag. Spray some spray foam in it (you will need to decide how much you need). Close the bag and set it in the floorboard of the car. Sit in i...	electrathon	3	3695	Dec 25, 2009 by meangreen
	body panels (Preview) I'm thinking of what to use for the body panels on my car. The only thing I can think of that would be really feasible is plastic cut and bolted on. This doesn't seem very light or aerodynamic. Does anyone have any other ideas about how to cover my frame?	Avi Maletz	7	4596	Dec 23, 2009 by meangreen
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