What a great start to the 2018-2019 season. Thank You Hillsborough Community College for hosting our first race of the season. 13 cars took the green flag on the old/new track at Hillsborough Community College. Old as in we have raced on it many times. New in the fact that it was recently seal coated which made it nice and slick while reducing tire friction.
The Open Class this year is starting out a little smaller with Titan Racing moving from Open to Advanced Battery.
Tiger Racing started out the year like the end of last season, with a win. His lap times and lap counts were down due to experimenting with a new lighter weight motor. The HCC team had multiple pit stops for tires and mechanical problems.
In the Advanced Battery Class (ABC) the competition was tough. ProEV took the top spot with 219 laps with a 3rd in the first race and a 1st in the second race. In the past ProEv has had multiple problems with wheels and chains. This weekend he had it under control and had only two minor problems but had enough laps to overcome them.
The powerhouse USF teams 48 car took 1st in the first race and 3rd in the second race matching ProEv for places but falling behind on total laps due to wheel issues at the end of the second race.
The new guys in the Advance Battery Class, Titan Racing, starting his first full year in the class was plagued by multiple tire problems and finished down the standing. Maybe ProEv passed off his tire and wheel problems to Titan Racing.
In the High School Class Simmons continued where they left off last season, leading the pack. With all new drivers learning the ropes they still led all comers finishing 1 – 2 overall in the class. As good as they are their lap count was 32 laps behind the Advanced Battery Class. One of the new teams in the class, Mulberry High School from Polk County, took a strong 3rd with their BRAND NEW CAR in its first race. It is another one of Jim Robinsons designed and built cars. They might have finished higher but they kept plowing through the grass on turns and did a beautiful 180 spin out on the tight turn by the track entrance.
Glad to see Plant High School get back on the track.
The Brooks team had a good day finishing 4th. It took them almost as long to set up that monster canopy they brought as it did to run the race.
The highlight of the day was the demolition derby acrobatics of the USF team 132 car and the multiple flips coming out of the fourth turn in the second race. The new driver rode it out and walked away without any injuries. It looked like they were carrying a casket as they raced back to the pits with the car in hand to get it fixed and back on the track. That probably accounted for them not placing higher than 3rd for the day.
IN THE PITS. A shout out to the USF team for helping the Brandon High School Team with some electrical problems on one of their cars and Brooks DeBartolo for helping with rim issues. Jim Robinson had to do some warranty work on the brake system on the Mulberry car. Great service as they didn’t have to take it back to the dealership for warranty work. The cars overall looked pretty good during inspections. Ballast and ballast placement need some attention. Ballast MUST BE Bolted Down or secured with cargo straps. Like the batteries it MUST NOT come out in a crash. Duct tape, bungee cords and rubber straps and the like are NOT SAFE. Ballast problems are grounds for a Disqualification.
The RACE STEWARD is and will hand out penalty laps for racing violations. Drivers need to remember to stop and look before pulling out of the pits onto the race course. Inspectors will be keeping an eye on the cars before, during and after the races so keep up on the NEW Electrathon America Handbook. If you don’t have the new copy it can be downloaded from the Electrathon Of America website.
FINISH
Advanced Battery Class 1st ProEv car 39, 2nd USF car 48 3rd USF car 132 4th Titan Racing car 242
Open Class 1st Tiger Racing car 4, 2nd HCC car 30
High School Class 1st Simmons 53 2nd Simmons car 35 3rd Mulberry car 38 4th Brooks car 55, 5th Plant car 98 6th Brandon car 14 7th Brandon car 9
Next Race is in Lakeland at George Jenkins High School and we should see even more cars take the track for our first ever race in Polk County.
See you at the race and keep the shiny side up,
VIC