Want to race EVs now?

[ProEV]

Greeting racers,

I have raced both gas and electric cars and I enjoy both. I do not have the budget for Formula E, and I am not convinced SCCA’s Prototype Electric class are the way to go- though full credit to Dayle Frame and the EVAC for their work on the difficult task of writing those rules.

So, I am involved in racing electric vehicles in Electrathon which is kind of the electric version of Karting but with more open engineering rules. The cost is a lot less than car racing, the track time is more, and there is a lot of wheel-to-wheel action.

The driver is required to weigh or be ballasted to 180 pounds or over. Maximum battery weight/capacity is specified-15 lbs./1,000 Whrs if you are running lithium. Three or four wheels. Then there are some basic safety design rules for driver protection. And that is pretty much it.

Hub motors. All-wheel drive. Leaning suspension. Rear wheel steering. Whatever you want to try. The winning cars tend to keep it simple but do it well. Rear wheel drive Tadpole trikes (two wheels in front). Bicycle wheels. Reasonable camber. Here is a description of my vehicle: https://proev.com/P2Desc.htm

We race on a variety of tracks including ovals and permanent road courses but most of the races are tight tracks set up in parking lots. This puts a premium on driver skill and keeps the cars close together.

I regularly pull 1.7 Gs cornering. Most courses the speeds are under 45 MPH. Here is a brief video of the ProEV Super Coupe in action. It is a 360 video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrooRo7ZNLk

I prep my own car. It is light enough to move around without help. Alignment, corner weights, mount two sets of tires, clean and lube chain, charge and balance pack, nut and bolt. That is pretty much all that is required for a race day. 4-6 hours work? Of course, making ‘improvements’ can use up more time.

I transport using a small open trailer and hitch it to my street car. I drive up the night before the race and drive home at the end of race day. Entry fee is $40. I use a set of tires each race day so around another $45.

We race on a Saturday. The races are 1 hour long. Normal schedule is: 20 minute Practice, Race one, lunch break, 20 minute Practice, Race two, Trophies then head home.

There is a High School class and an Open Class. Those classes are subdivided into Lead Acid and Advanced Battery. All the classes run together.

Like most series, buying a used chassis is the way to go. The ‘want to buy’ section of this website is a good place to post: https://electrathonamerica.activeboard.com

A car can be built for as cheaply as $1,300 if you have some fabrication skills. Video here: https://youtu.be/9K9XF5D23fc Other examples: https://www.instructables.com/Build-...-a-Bike-Motor/ And here: https://www.electrathonamerica.org/j...-silver-bullet

There are a couple of new car builders out there as well. https://www.blueskydsn.com/kit_aero.html and https://www.electrathonparts.com.

I am running in the Electrathon of Tampa Bay series. https://electrathonoftampabay.org/www/ The season runs from September to May with about one race per month.

There are races in Georgia and Alabama https://georgiaelectrathon.com. Texas, Kansas, and Connecticut all have had races.

There used to be an active group of racers in California and Oregon, but the pandemic disrupted their organization. There must be a number of fast vehicles sitting around in that area. This is what the racing looked like out there ten years ago at PIR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKwZroATAqI&t=4s and road racing at Hood River in 2016. https://youtu.be/SZ87g4bNwMM This race is around a brewery. I would happily commit to running in this race if someone restarts it!

The overall sanctioning body is here https://www.electrathonamerica.org

[Steve Davis]

Cliff,
While not in the 'general context' of posts on this site, your post is quite interesting. I had never heard of this type of racing and it's interesting to see what has been going on in other parts of 'the world'.. even if relatively close by. Seems that 'us guys' don't have much more ability to 'publicize ourselves', than 'youse guys'

Great read!
Steve, FV80

[ProEV]

Cliff,
While not in the 'general context' of posts on this site, your post is quite interesting. I had never heard of this type of racing and it's interesting to see what has been going on in other parts of 'the world'.. even if relatively close by. Seems that 'us guys' don't have much more ability to 'publicize ourselves', than 'youse guys'

Great read!
Steve, FV80

Hi Steve,

I have never had the opportunity to drive a Formula V, but I have run in the same group. The low downforce and skinny tires are similar to Electrathon. It takes mechanical grip and (cough, cough) driver skill to get around the corners. I love the drafting battles too. We have those on ovals and permanent road courses but not so much on our tight street courses.

Generally, pushing wings and things through the air cost more energy than we would make up by cornering at a higher speed. Low rolling resistance is the primary attribute that we look for in our tires and we run such high pressures that our contact patch is tiny. Combine low grip tires and the torque of an electric motor provides some entertaining driving.

We use tire pressure to set up track to track, the way winged cars uses more or less wing. With higher setting, more of your energy becomes speed but you can't carry as much speed in the corners. What is the equivalent in Formula V?

[Steve Davis]

....What is the equivalent in Formula V?

I think DRIVER SKILL SET would be the proper answer there in most cases,
but OCCASIONALLY internal trans gearing (3rd gear) plays a part. And, the quality of the tires in use for that session.

[TedV]

What is the equivalent in Formula V?

I think DRIVER SKILL SET would be the proper answer there in most cases,
but OCCASIONALLY internal trans gearing (3rd gear) plays a part. And, the quality of the tires in use for that session.

There used to be a wide front/short rear option, but that is gone. Do FV ever adjust their shocks from track to track or do they run the same everywhere every day?

Cliff,
Glad to see you still out electric racing. I think the last we spoke you were running the Imp at Morosso many many years ago when Little Lee was still very little. Unfortunately Electrathon events are not close to me but I did drive a few hours to corner work Green Prix event for STEM students. Pretty much similar to Electrathon style spec kits for school age STEM students. The initial thought of the speeds are like watching a tortoise paint the Taj Mahal quickly gave way to this is endurance racing on a compressed time scale excitement. Watching the agony of mechanical failure. The race craft and discipline of a turtle pace get initially gapped by a rabbit to slowly close the gap in the later stages and ultimately pass the slowing spent rabbit for the win with the reaction of the turtle pace kid that of just winning the Indy 500. Definitely fun competition

[holmberg]

For me, this would be a reason not to race these vehicles:

https://youtu.be/wrooRo7ZNLk?t=41

I know it's not that fast, and the guy probably wasn't hurt too bad, but still, I think this is something that should be fixed.

Greg

[ProEV]

Hi Ted,

It has been a few years since we ran the Electric Imp. ‘Little Lee’ is now Quick Lee and James is now Slow Lee.

Green Power and Green Prix are kind of a Spec version of Electrathon. Everyone is required to use the same motor and batteries from Green Power. Their races are normally longer, and their battery pack is smaller, so they are quite a bit slower. On the other hand, the kids seem to love it and it is a great learning experience.

We had one of the Green Power cars at our last race. They wanted to come over to the ‘Dark side’ and race with less restrictive rules. Their car was nice and well made but will require some beefing up to handle the extra power.

Regards,

Cliff

[ProEV]

For me, this would be a reason not to race these vehicles:

https://youtu.be/wrooRo7ZNLk?t=41

I know it's not that fast, and the guy probably wasn't hurt too bad, but still, I think this is something that should be fixed.

Greg

Hi Greg,

The driver was not hurt at all. Helmets, 5 point seat belts, roll hoops are all required but, at the end of the day, this is racing. Accidents happen. There is risk.

It is interesting to track what happened here. I lose momentum the corner before when I am trying to get by a lapped car. The USF driver gets a good run and tries to unlap himself. It is his first race in the car (that is what the yellow streamer tied to his roll bar means) and he mis-judges his speed.

The other obvious factor is the vehicle’s center of gravity is too high. With my Super Coupe, when I do something stupid, the vehicle either understeers or spins, like a well designed race car is suppose to. This it not necessarily true of every vehicle out there.

This is the challenge of having a very open set of design rules. On top of which, building an electrathon car is cheap and anyone who would like to try is welcome. People are learning by doing and it is not always pretty. They do learn and the competition is always getting stronger.

As a racer, I always want to go faster but I suspect that the current set of Electrathon rules is a good balance. Slow enough to minimize risk, fast enough to be exciting.

Cliff
www.ProEV.com