Electrathon America Forum

Thank you for posting it, hopefully my team will be able to make it this year

WOW!!

Looks like a great venue for a race. Wish we had something like that in the NW. Most of our races are in parking lots and on streets.

So it looks like about 60' of elevation change followed by another 40'. That is a lot of elevation change on each lap but if the track is 2.3 miles I guess that is not too bad. In the NW we have one race that is 1/2 mile long on streets with an elevation change of ~50' and then 20'. It also has a very tight 110 degree corner at the bottom of the biggest hill which tends to kill the speed you pick up on the one block drop of 60 feet. On that course we only make about 24 miles in the hour. How far do the top cars go at Barbers?

Do they donate the track for this or do you guys have to pay? We have to rent Portland International Raceway over Memorial Day weekend for our races but it is greatly reduced as this is a "no noise" weekend with the holiday. But it is still $1000 for two days. Do your sponsors pick up the cost or are their registration fees to cover the race?

In the NW our first race is mic March and then most weekends until the end of May with a couple over the summer/fall.

Have fun and wish we could bring some of the cars from Willamette in Eugene OR there to drive the track.
Hodgert

I raced here a few years back, the second year they ran it. It is a great venue. The track is beautiful and fun to drive. The Alabama Power volunteers supported the race personally, doing tech and track marshaling. The organizers made everyone feel welcome. The pit lane has electric outlets, so no need for generators. It is close to a 12 hour drive and I have missed the last couple of years but I want to go back, hopefully this year...

I know I am being overly cautious and a stickler but can the race officials where Blue Sky cars and other cars with roll bars that do not meet the roll bar and side protection rules of Electrathon PLEASE start to tell teams they need to modify their cars to MEET THE RULES. See Page 6 rule 4.0 of the handbook. So far no one has been hurt that I know of but it is just a major injury waiting to happen in my opinion. I have a very safe car but during one 4 year period we had an adult team of two that grew up dirt track racing and knew how to 'accidentally tap' a cars front outside wheel on a turn and make it bounce into a curb. My car was barrel rolled three different times and even an end over end flip once over those 4 years at a race where the race officials seemed not to like to black flag teams for hitting and wrecking other cars. These are the only rollovers I have ever had and I am glade my roll bar was well made and above my head for each of these. (Tow of them I was able to finish the race and win a trophey.) Notice the picture of my car--now look at the roll bar on the car in your flier or many others from the East coast area and see where the roll bar is in comparison to the driver's head on a number of the cars.

If I was planning on correcting this I would talk to my tech inspectors and other race officials as well as the team teachers, etc. and tell them to let any vehicle that did not comply 'race this race' but that by ????? (the next race, next month, next season, or ??) that this must be addressed and fixed. They can take their cars to a welding fabrication shop and have a 'halo' or some other method made and welded or even very securely bolted on by it needs to be fixed. This does not make them unable to race a car that they have worked on and are excited about but it lets them know that they need to make it safe to continue to race. I know if the roll bar is legal the Blue Sky dome will not fit over it and this needs to be addressed by Blue Sky in the manufacture and design before the kits are sold.

Raising a roll bar up to a few inches above the driver's head and even a roll cage like mine does not add significantly to the wind drag and so aerodynamics are not a factor, except for the dome. In the NW any car with a dome that is allowed to race has the dome cut and the roll bar extends above it. Or they do not use a dome and they modify the roll bar to make it legal. I have used Blue Sky bodies in the past but our roll bars have always followed the law (except the first one we made in 1994). Currently I have about a dozen used bodies and 10 new bodies sitting in my labs storage area looking for a home since my kids understand that they are hard to male legal to race.

Thanks
Mike--Electrathon President.