Those look like fun and fast tracks. From what I saw your car was the fastest and if it made the whole race I assume you won. How long is the track and what distance did you travel in the hour.
Tell me about your car. Type of batteries, tires, steering, motor, controller, etc. Approximate weight of car. What do you think make it faster and better than the others you were racing against?
I admit as a long time racer, race host, EA board member and past president: The light post you are going past within less than a foot at times make me very nervous. I hope no one ever clips one of those at speed...it would not be pretty. Over my 25+ yearinvolved with EA I have seen a number of bad wrecks and always try to figure out what would keep kids safe if the steering or ??? broke at that corner or whatever.
Thanks for sharing...Always wish there was a cheap way to transport cars so we could compete across the country every year or two and learn from each other.
Our car is using a heavily modified Robinson frame, ( this one was an one off frame as well, no one else has the same frame ), we use the maxxis hookworm tires, we do run Li-Pos, total voltage is about 84v fully charged. The motor we use is the ME1003 16.7 hp continuous 30 hp peak for 30 seconds (11-23 kw ), cant remember what Alltrax controller we use ( its the one that goes up to 450 A ) , total weight of the car + driver we estimate at about 300 lbs.
the reason why i believe we are so competitive is because our motor, as we use Li-Po's we can deal with the inefficiency and weight of the ME1003 ( 39 lbs ) but the benefit is that if i want to pass someone , i doubt there is another team that can stop me, considering i have enough battery power.
I do know that at times it can be a bit scary to see how close we passed that pole, but for that corner we would need to slow down well before that corner to make that turn, so max speed you would take that corner was about 18mph and that was with me fighting for grip on corner exit on my hot lap , most cars are going well under 10 mph before they get to that corner, but for us in particular use hydraulic braces, if you look at the MHS video (the second one at 2:25) we have a very short stopping distance, shimano hydraulic brakes will not budge if you got them on full lock ( no that you would want to do this but in terms of demonstrating the power ). I believe at 20 MPH even hitting the post head on would not cause much if any damage to the driver.
We make sure that everyone walks the track and we talk about the possible trouble ares in the drivers meeting. Me personally, i feel like in one hand we do need to do everything we can to an extent as this is a competition to learn about electric vehicles and we want everyone to get to the finish line in one piece without injury, but on the other hand what makes this competition so fun is when you wheel to wheel with another racer, with the confidence that the car that you have spent so many hours perfecting and tuning and go past slightly faster or do a fastest lap, but i guess i am just a true racer at heart on that. My thing is that make safe as much as you can while still having a difficult to race track that also takes skills as a driver to get through, nothing beats that thrill.
in terms of stats i forgot to note down the total distance (20 miles or so? ) but we did a total of 147 laps with my quickest lap being 35.7 seconds with a top speed of 48 mph for the USF home race, and yes we did do the entire 1hr, although wer came off for 5-10 mins due to a mechanical issue.
For transportation for many years we have just stuck the car in the family Minivan with the middle row folded down / removed, worked like a charm so far! furthest we have been was the Barber Motorsports race in Alabama (about 10 hours drive from my house)
-- Edited by 4TRIDENT4 on Tuesday 21st of November 2017 10:45:58 PM
