Dashing Day at Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation

We held our STEM Electrathon Event at Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation in Pasco County on Saturday, March 4th.

Unlike our normal race day of two, sixty-minute races, this was our dash day of racing, four, 20-minute races and a high school/college sponsor 20-minute dash challenge. We found out after the races that our computer set the race time for 19 minutes and not 20. (oops)

We thank Kirkland Ranch Electrathon Sponsor David Kocher, his team and school administration for hosting our event.

We thank Florida Power and Light, Charlie Driver for coming to our event. Charlie spent the entire day with us learning about our teams and organization. Electrathon of Tampa Bay/Florida will be there to assist them in their future plans to support students in the State of Florida.

The teams met with our Race Steward for instructions, flag identification and safety protocols.

The track opened for 30 minutes so that drivers could run practice laps. Pro EV car 39 ran practice laps and did very well on the course.

We missed our Mulberry High School Sponsor Todd Thuma and his team as they were not able to attend. We thank Mulberry team member Aiden for coming out to assist even though his team was not at the races.

The first race teams lined up.

The green flag dropped and off they went. Tiger car 4 ran lithium batteries and had controller and battery issues sending them to the pits. (We should have had him running lead acid during this race) The Kinetic car 99 tires struck the side of Jane Deere car 942 leaving tire rings and a gash in their side panel.

When the checkered flag dropped, ending the first race, the results were:
Open Class
Jane Deere car 942, 35 laps
Kinetic car 99, 33 laps
Kinetic car 19, 26 laps

Advanced Class
Pro EV car 39, 40 laps
S & J Racing car 256, 34 laps
Tiger car 4, 3 laps

Teams lined up for the second race, the green flag dropped, and the race went well.

When the checkered flag dropped, ending the second race, the results were:

High School Class
1st Place Kirkland car 555 with 35 laps (19.02.628)
2nd Place Middleton car 133 with 35 laps (19.10.587
3rd Place Plant City car 83 with 35 laps (19.22.539)
4th Place Middleton car 80 with 22 laps

Open Class
Tiger car 4 with 33 laps

The third race of the day was our High school/College Sponsor Dash Challenge. The three cars lined up with Middleton Sponsor William in car 80, Middleton Sponsor Kenny in car 133 and Kirkland Sponsor David in car 555.

The sponsors ran a great race until William drove the wheel off of the 80 car (sending the tire down the course on its own) which caused the car to roll over. William was not hurt but ended the race day for the 80 car.

When the checkered flag dropped it was
1st Place Kirkland (David) car 555 with 37 laps

2nd Place Middleton (Kenny) car 133 with 36 laps

3rd Place Middleton (William) car 80 with 26 laps

Our fourth race of the day lined up.

The green flagged dropped and our High School students did exceptionally well.

When the checkered flag dropped it was
1st Place Plant City car 83 with 35 laps
2nd Place Kirkland car 555 with 33 laps
3rd Place Middleton car 133 with 12 laps

Open Class
Tiger car 4 with 34 laps

Our fifth and last race of the day lined up.

The green flag dropped, and the teams took off. The S & J Racing car 256 came around one turn and over they went causing a red flag. The driver believes that a dip in the course, his speed and the high winds caused the turnover. Stephen is ok but may have a bruised hand. Kinetic car 99 rolled in one of the turns Kevin said he is okay, but we will check on him as his helmet shows signs of impact. Pro EV car 39 spun out and faced oncoming cars in one of the turns.

When the checkered flag dropped it was
Open Class
Jane Deere car 942 with 26 laps
Kinetic car 99 with 22 laps
Kinetic car 19 with 21 laps

Advanced Class
Pro EV car 39 with 29 laps
Tiger car 4 with 23 laps
S & J car 256 with 2 laps

Due to the fact we had two red flags during the fifth race and time was lost, the time and lap factor for Tiger had to be adjusted by our Race Steward as he ran his lead acid batteries in the high school’s race. In the future teams will not be able to run other than the class they normally run for season points.

To find our overall race results for the day we add the two race lap totals. Final results for the race day:

High School
1st Place Plant City car 83 with 70 laps, best lap of the day 29.609