ANNOUNCING THE WINNER OF THE EVTV $2500 OPEN DRAG RACE

On Friday, after a long day of technical sessions, EVCCON attendees turned outside to nice weather and a bit of a play day. We had a weigh station where attendees could get the weight and distribution of their cars, a drag race, and an autocross.

To spice it up, EVTV had offered a purse of $2500 to the fastest full bodied four wheel car at the event.

At the dinner Saturday night, I presented Ron Adamowicz with a check for $2500. His Warp Factor II Camaro, featuring two Netgain Warp 11HV motors and two Zilla 2K controllers turned in a time of 11.50 seconds and a speed of 91.20 mph to win the event – on airport ramp concrete which was a bit “grabby”. The Team Haiyin Camaro is sponsored by the Haiyin Battery Company. Ron has an agreement to distribute these very small 6.5 AH high power pouch cells and describes them as perfect for racing. Ron did describe these $29 cells in detail at session on Saturday morning. More info at his Battery Shop web site. Congratulations Ron.

David Hrivnak was awarded a trophy for fastest production car for his 2008 Tesla Roadster posting a time of 13.13 reaching a top speed of 88.25

The race of the day was never actually run as they didn’t go head to head. But Sebastien Bourgoius 1978 Porsche 911 featured TWO Netgain Warp 9 motors and an EVnetics Soliton1 controller came in at 14.66 seconds and 89.15 mph while our own 1957 Porsche Speedster Redux with ONE Netgain Warp 9 and the SAME controller posted a 14.75 at 78.5 mph. Next year we will have to run these two cars head to head. In fairness, Sebastien’s car left the aromatic smell of burning clutch wafting over the crowd the full length of the raceway, while Matt Hauber chirped merrily down the strip in our own REDUX. No sympathy. Bourgois was IN our shop when we burned a stock clutch out on Redux and replaced it with a Stage IV Kennedy competition clutch. Nonetheless, on building his 911 he avowed a stock clutch would be adequate. Build and learn. The disparity in top speeds between the two cars indicates that once under way, the 911 was indeed fast. But until he gets a clutch, we can probably take him in the 1/8th mile.

11.50 // 91.20
1981 Camaro Drag Car – Ron Adamowicz

13.13 // 88.25
2008 Tesla Roadster – David Hrivnak

14.66 // 89.15
1978 Porsche 911 – Sebastien Bourgeois

14.75 // 78.51
1957 Porsche 356 Speedster – EVTV / Matt Hauber

16.75 // 80.70
Seven Illuminati – Kevin Smith

17.14 // 76.14
Car #128 ???????????

17.21 // 69.79
Porsche 904 Carrera GTS Duane Ball

17.69 // 67.40
1973 Opel GT – Charlie Rickman

18.54 // 73.49
2007 Toyota Prius Limo – Steve Woodruff

18.90 // 66.41
2000 BMW Z3 – Tim Catellier

19.12 // 71.42
1955 Porsche Spyder 550- EVTV / Brian Noto

19.81 // 68.30
1974 Porsche 914 – Rich Rodriguez

19.84 // 65.16
1981 VW Pick-Up – Jim Hanna

20.22 // 63.06
1999 Saturn SL1 – Daniel Lynn

20.29 // 54.50
1993 Ford Ranger – John Yecker

20.35 // 61.97
2000 Ford Ranger – James Edmonson

21.26 // 47.63
1960 Austin Healey – Fred Behning

21.27 // 58.86
1987 Dodge Daytona – Jason Horak

22.57 // 61.92
1957 Beck Porsche 356A – Eric Kriss

22.86 // 57.92
2001 Subaru Forester – Michel / Denis Bondy

24.02 // 54.43
1993 Geo Metro – William Dennis

24.82 // 44.33
Car #185 ???????????

25.18 // 42.53
2005 Porsche Cayenne – Daniel Yohannes

The other head to head we will have to run again is Richard Rodriguez’s Porsche 914 at 19.81 seconds and our own 1955 Porsche Spyder 550 at 19.12 seconds. These DID go head to head and it was an exciting heat.

But as long as I live, I believe the definitive image I shall carry to the grave of “drag racing” is Steve Woodruff in a 2007 Toyota Prius STRETCH Limo – obviously the definitive drag racing monster machine. We believe this to be an EVCCON exclusive. You’ll rarely see such in an NHRA event.

The objective here was to take a break from two solid days of technical sessions, get out in the sunshine and play with the cars. We drove each other’s cars in the drag race where you could line up for run after run without restriction. Looked at the cars between heats. Talked about the builds. And drank Stag beer out of a keg TRAILER with spigots down the side. We had announcers and screens showing times which made it much more interesting as a spectator event. And we really didn’t have to deal with the OTHER detritus of being at a real track on race day with a lot of other events. It was perhaps not as official, but a lot more fun and ALL about electric cars. And the car owners now know exactly what their cars/limousines can do in a timed quarter mile.

Rumor has it that NHRA is going to add electric classes to the big time drag racing circuit, making the weeny NEDRA/ECEDRA events rather obsolete on contact. But we think we can continue our own unique “drag race” as a fun day in the sun at each EVCCON. We hope to add a dynamometer to next year’s event so you can weigh your car, get a dyno printout, run the quarter, and do the autocross. We’ll offer a purse again next year and hopefully lure some other electric cars to compete with the purpose builts like Ron’s Warp Factor II to spice up the show. But it’s all about fun and electric cars.

There’s just nothing like tanking up on a bellyful of Stag beer, playing with some high voltage, and going for an afternoon drive…

Team Illuminati was actually a pretty serious contender in the Progressive Auto Insurance XPrize held last year. They lost their transmission at a crucial point in the competition and dropped out. They again demonstrated this technique at the EVCCON Autocross track. You can hear it let go in the last seconds of this video.