Luke
Dork
9/26/08 10:28 p.m.
http://www.retroscenemag.com/post/White-Zombie2c-Electrical-Datsun-Drag-Racing.aspx
http://www.plasmaboyracing.com/whitezombie.php
Impressive stuff, but I wonder what it would take to turn a car like this from a 1/4 mile machine into a commuter, or Auto-Xer/race car.
I don't know the first thing about electric cars, but I'm guessing range would be the biggest hurdle to overcome (more batteries = more weight etc.)
gamby
SuperDork
9/26/08 11:21 p.m.
That rules on so many levels.
kcbhiw
Reader
9/27/08 1:09 a.m.
Very cool indeed. I'd love to dig into that car.
That launch looks so brutal. I love the torque curve of an electric motor, flat from 0 RPM to redline, however high that may be. I can't wait till I see the first electric road race car. Imagine the corner exit speeds when you always have peak torque.
Awesome stuff. Hopefully a view into things to come.
Seen it race in person, very impressive!
It's definitely a one-show wonder though. Recharge after every pass, pushed through the staging lanes into the burnout box, towed back from the end of the track. The batteries were designed for instant 100% power and full drain. I imagine they could change the batteries and maybe get better range, but I don't know if they could do it on the same motor.
I wonder what the 60 foot time looks like.
mtn
Dork
9/27/08 11:05 a.m.
hehe, the front wheels came off the ground
Jay
HalfDork
9/27/08 11:27 a.m.
That serial/parallel changeover is genius. Like an electric power cam. Neat car.
J
That is absolutely phenomenal!!
2 speed electric car basically.
I wonder how it would perform if you set the batteries up to last for a longer time?
I love it! That was 2 motors so a single motor ought to be enough for a Locost wouldn't you think?
General Motors should have a modified Volt done immediately and start promoting how cool electric power is.
I already have it in my head that the Chevrolet Volt is going to suck.
These type videos change my mind.
thatsnowinnebago wrote:
I can't wait till I see the first electric road race car. Imagine the corner exit speeds when you always have peak torque.
Back when I was in college we had the Formula SAE and Mini-Baja teams but we also had a Formula Lightning team. The Formula Lightning was an SAE series of road racing electric cars for colleges/universities. The chassis' were a spec chassis open wheel racer with little in the way of aerodynamics, and suspension mods were generally not allowed as the series was supposed to focus on the electrical drivetrain, not chassis engineering. Things were adjustable, but you couldn't move suspension points, etc. Pit stops to change 1400lb of batteries could be completed in well under a minute, which was fortunate because the batteries drained after only several laps. The car itself was quite heavy, about 3000lb.
SAE eventually divested themselves of this series and it is now run by the University Consorteum of Elecrtic Vehicle Racing Teams. There were quite a few teams participating, I'm not sure how many still are.
Here are some links to various teams:
http://www.kettering.edu/~lightnin/
http://www.ent.ohiou.edu/~ebobcat/
http://www.nd.edu/~ndracing/
The Ohio University teams' site says that they run about 2:07 at Mid-Ohio - anyone have any times of other series' or personal times to compare this too?
If you're curious, here's the rules:
http://www.nd.edu/~ndracing/misc/flrules.pdf
Here's a couple vidoes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WwmBELIaTg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRiGcU45HE0
Bob
gamby
SuperDork
9/27/08 1:35 p.m.
pete240z wrote:
General Motors should have a modified Volt done immediately and start promoting how cool electric power is.
I never thought of that. If there is one single intelligent person in that organization, they'd be working on some performance/race versions of the Volt for publicity/PR use.