REMINDER

Our next race is this Saturday, December 12, 2015 at Simmons Career Center in Plant City Florida. Simmons Team Sponsor Denis Bouchard has arranged for good food and a great course. Bring the entire family for a free fun day of racing.

Thank Fredi for getting this together.

Our next race is rapidly approaching us along with the end of the year. With the holidays, special events and family time our dedicated teams, drivers and volunteers will be at the last race of 2015.

Simmons Career Center, Team Sponsor Denis Bouchard has arranged for homemade barbecue and the sides for the race. Cost will be reasonable for portions of food. Please support this new team by purchasing your lunch at the event.

The first cool race day of the year is in the books.

12 cars took the green flag for both races on the 1/4 mile track with some of the closest finishes ever in the series.

Racing on a 1/4 mile track allowed the teams to really see how the cars would do in a true time trial setting. Aerodynamics, gear ratios, battery life/conservation, steady speed and steering all come into play.  Much more so than on a road course where the cars are constantly slowing down and speeding up.  In the High School class the winner was driving a car with the aerodynamics of a brick and was 26 laps behind the Open Class winner and 32 laps behind the EX battery winner.  All but the EX battery winner were using the same type batteries.  AERODYNAMICS was a BIG factor.

In the 1st race of the High School Class, the Simmons #60 car and the Middleton #80 car had the same lap count with 80 laps on the 1/4 mile track.  Simmons took 1st by mere seconds.  In the second race Simmons beat Middleton again, this time by 2 laps.  TBT was late starting the race when they had a brake lock up on the way to the start line otherwise they would have been in the mix for 1st.

In the second race Simmons and TBT went at it with both cars finishing with 83 laps each.  Simmons took 1st again this time by 32 sec.

In the Open Class USF, driving their new car for the second race, missed 3rd place by 5 sec. to Rodney in the Tiger Racing #4 car.

In the first Open Class race, 1st and 2nd had a 2 sec. gap.  The Robinson Racing #13 and #94 cars drafted each other  for most of the race with the dad, in the 94 car, beating son in the #13.

In the second race the Robinson Racing #13 car took 1st again when the #94 car withdrew with it second blown tire of the race.  Tiger Racing took 3rd when he had to slow down towards the end of the race in order to preserve a tire that was looking like it wanted to come apart.  At the end of the race the tire looked like it was holding on by a thread or two.  That left the door open for USF to come in 2d in the race and second overall in the Open Class.  USF ran a strong, smooth and uneventful race which is just how it should go but rarely does.

In the Experimental Battery Class (EX) Cliff from ProEV #39 car out of Miami was unopposed and had a track high 195 laps for the day.  I think he scared off the other EX Battery Class cars.  There was a rumor that the other drivers had to work.  Work should never get in the way of racing.  Ha….

High School results for two races

1st Simmons #60 163 laps,  2nd Middleton #80 161 laps, 3rd  TBT # 242 156 laps, 4th Brandon #9 149 laps, 5th Wharton #58 138 laps, 6th Brandon #14 129 laps, 7th Middleton #133 125 laps.

Open Class results for two races

1st Robinson Racing #13 189 laps, 2nd USF #132 183 laps, 3rd Tiger Racing #4 181 laps, 4th Robinson Racing #94 127 laps

Thanks to the Middleton team for putting on a great race and for the food and goodies provided.  It made for a great day of racing.

In the pits during the day teams were seen helping each other and loaning batteries and wheels etc.  True sportsmanship on display for this race and every race.

Hope to see everyone and more at Simmons Career Center, 1202 Grant St in Plant City on December 12, 2015.

Vic Nieves

One of the goals of Electrathon Racing is How Far Can You Go in One Hour on One Set Of Batteries.
On the 1/4 mile track is where you can find out. Aerodynamics come into play here more than on a road course. Gear ratios are the other big factor. Too high and you can kill the batteries. Too low and you cant keep up. The wear and tear on the cars is less but tires need to be 100%
ATTENTION TO DETAIL.. one problem or one oh …. and you are out of it. Make sure your mirrors are set up so you can see the car coming up on your 6.. You MUST be able to see cars coming up on BOTH sides. Min. of 8 sq. in. If you can see both sides with one mirror. Two are better.
The weather for this Sat is looking good. Not too hot and no rain.

See you Saturday.

Vic

On Tuesday, November 10, 2015, The Hillsborough County School Board will present to Ken Fiallos (ETO Founder) the 2015 STEM Champion Award. The ceremony starts at 530pm and will be held at 901 E. Kennedy Blvd in downtown Tampa. Please come out and support Ken and our organization (ETO) at this recognition ceremony.

Charlie

Our next race will be at Middleton High School, located at 4801 North 22nd Street, Tampa FL 33610. The Middleton Team will be selling food as a fund raiser for their teams, one of them is an ALL GIRLS TEAM, the only one in the entire State of Florida. The course will be an oval with two areas on the back straight away that has cones to make a simple serpentine for drivers to navigate through. The green flag for the first race drops at 10am and drops again at 1pm for the second race.

The second race of the season went well. Our host, Strawberry Crest Electrathon Team with Sponsor Jim Brockman provided great food and drinks along with a challenging course. We started the race with twelve cars under the direction of our founder Ken Fiallos. Many drivers thought the drivers education range would be that simple little oval with an inset. This course challenged drivers with an inset on both ends that were not the same. Cones flew on a few occasions as the turns took over the car and away from the driver. All safety barriers proved to be effective making all drivers safe during both races. A special thanks to Tom Beck for filling in as our Race Stewart for the day.

The second race of the season is coming upon us quickly. The Strawberry Crest High School Team will host the race for the very first time. Jim Brockman (Sponsor) has done a great job getting this approved at their site for his team. Lets show our appreciation to them by having a great turn out and a safe race. The track will be set up on the drivers education pad located on the NW side of the campus. The course will be similar to that of the drivers education pad at Tampa Bay Tech as seen in the diagram. The flag to start the first race will drop at 10am followed by our second race at 1pm.

Some observations while doing pre race inspections and between races in the pits.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL. ESPECIALLY THE LITTLE THINGS can be the difference between 1st and 5th or a DNF.

A bad connector on one of the batteries on the TBT car caused a very high resistance in the 1st race.  When you check voltage on the battery in the car go from battery post to battery post. Note the voltage, then check from the wing nut connector to wing nut connector and note the voltage. The readings should be Almost Identical.  If not fix it.

Proper wire size, connector size, insulation and a loose connection caused the HCC car to blow the controller. The cable ends going to the controller were/are way to big and not insulated. One came loose and shorted out the controller. That was the end of the day for HCC. The cable end should be JUST big enough to go over the copper conductor. Soldering them is even better. Check with any auto parts store and get HEAT SHRINK TUBING for your connectors. That way even if they come loose they should not short anything out. The right size connectors and proper insulation are way cheaper than a new controller or other pieces of equipment. Teams that have done these things have almost no electrical problems.

I know every team has a copy of the Electrathon America Handbook handy for all those questions on batteries, wiring, car design and safety. Every one should be up on everything it contains. If you don’t have a copy go to electrathonamerica.org and download a copy.

Check paragraphs 5.2, 5.3, 5.6, 11.2, 11.7, 11.8, 13.4, 13.5, 13.6, 13.12, 16.2, 16.3, 21.1, 26.3, 28.2 and page 24 has a generic wiring diagram for an Electrathon car.

On car design: On the wheel spacing, wider is better. If you can’t make the wheel spacing wider then camber adjustment can help. A low driver position is better than a more upright position. Low center of gravity is VERY Important. Weight distribution is critical. (Is that ballast going to come loose or move during the race or if you get in the grass or in a crash or when rubbing paint with another car?) If all of these items are correct the car is very stable and not prone to tipping, spinning out or going upside down. So take a close look at your car and keep the shiny side up.

The above items will help you keep the little things from jumping up and biting you in the butt once the green flag drops.

Vic Nieves