Race day started with most teams who used GPS to find the school having to try multiple entrances before finding the track. GPS sent you to a closed gate a ways from the track.

Todd and his crew from Mulberry put on a great race. Lots of help with set up and tear down. It is appreciated when the home team helps as much as Todd and his team did.

The home team took the High School class with a total of 183 laps in the #38 car driving a conservative race with new drivers. Their #83 car had a shaky start in the first race with a new driver. Late in the first race had a spin-out and landed into the infield when the steering had a problem. Skinned up sheet metal but the driver didn’t have a scratch.

In the Open Class we had a first on race day. HCC started both races on time. When they get another good set of batteries they will be a team to watch as they will be very competitive.

Funding is always an issue for all of our teams. Teams are always looking for sponsors or donations to assist in their costs to keep the car running all season.

Another first in the Open Class was the absence of Silver Bullet Racing/Jim Robinson. He went over to the dark side to the Advanced Battery Class. Give you more on that later.

Tiger Racing/Rodney Schreck took first with 173 laps with Titan Racing coming in 2nd and HCC took third. Titan Racing withdrew towards the end of the second race with electrical problems, turned out that there was a loose connection on the master kill switch.

Advanced Battery Class saw the duel between Pro EV and USF continue. USF showed up with a whole new crew and new drivers. They still took 1st place in both races. In the second race it was a VERY CLOSE finish with USF taking it by 9 seconds over Cliff in the Pro EV car. RYNO Racing/Ryan and his 365 car had a bad day. Ryan used a past team mate from Middleton High School, Josh Ridout as one of his drivers and Mulberry graduate Dillon Meeks as a second driver. The 365 car did well the first race but late in the second race the rear tire went flat (according to another teams driver) in one of the turns sending the 365 car into a spin out causing it to roll over into the infield on the far end of the track. The car was messed up but the driver did not have a scratch or injury. The front end of the car will need to be rebuilt to get the wheels going in the right direction. Ambur from Brooks DeBartolo offered to help with welding the car in those spots that needed TLC. It is great to see teams offer to help one another.

The new/old guy in Advanced Battery, Silver Bullet/Jim Robinson, took third with his new battery pack. Sai from USF replaced the three Electrocutioners Teams as our Advanced Battery guru and helped Jim with his battery pack.

By the way, where are the Electrocutioners, they dominated the advanced battery class for a number of years, we would love to see Andrew, Pony and Slam back on the track racing with us.

As Seen In The Pits Cliff with Pro EV had a bad cell in his battery pack the first race but had a spare cell and changed it out between races. The way these guys build their Lithium Ion batteries, you have to take the whole thing apart to work on them. Not something you want to do between races, but can be done.
Nick and the guys from USF were going to help Jim Robinson between races by reprogramming his motor controller computer. They did a fine job we think they left out a step as the car wouldn’t start the second race and had to visit the pits for another programming session. When it did get back onto the track in the second race it had a top speed of only 22mph.
HCC had an 8000w generator in the pits; it could have run half the school. USF used it to charge the batteries in their car as the 3500w generator that I had would not take the load to charge three Lithium Ion cars. Thank You HCC for being a great team that helps other teams.

The day was filled with teams offering to help one another in many different ways which is what makes Electrathon of Tampa Bay such a great family of racers.

It’s all about the Batteries in Electrathon Racing.
One of the Electrathon America rules state that the batteries must be secured in such a way that they will not come out or loose in the event of an accident or roll over. Teams will not be allowed to use the standard bungee cords. Batteries MUST be secured with some form of rigid device/clamps, cargo straps or DOT black rubber straps with the hooks on the ends.
We noticed some lateral, back and forth movement in the steering columns, this makes steering more difficult as steering inputs not as crisp as needed. Teams please check your car for these safety concerns.

Our next race will be an away race down in Ft Myers/Lee County Mosquito Control, on a one mile airstrip.

See you there

Vic