Since I already posted about my experience at Refuel 2010 now it’s time to look at who all else was there.

I was excited to see Palatov Motorsport’s cars. I visited the Palatov shop last July in Portland but at the time the dp1 was out of the shop and the dp4 hadn’t been built yet. They brought the dp1e electric racer and the dp4 hayabusa-powered mini-racer. The dp1 is powered by a Remy PMAC motor and impressively compact Rinehart Motion Systems inverter, coupled with a healthy Thunder Sky battery pack. While solidly in the prototype phase, the car is coming along quite impressively and makes quite an impression in person. From looking around the Remy website I suspect the motor they’re using is from Remy’s “off the shelf” series of motors designed for hybrid drive systems. It uses an interesting construction technique they call “HVH- High Voltage Hairpin”. Basically, the windings are made of rectangular wire slotted very neatly into the stator laminations, for measurable improvements in power density and efficiency. It’s really a very sexy looking motor.

(Taken from the white paper available at http://www.remyinc.com/hybrid.asp)

Palatov says he’s planning on selling a EV drive system based on the Remy motor and RMS inverter. It’ll be very interesting to see what the price point for that sort of a system will be.

The dp1e looked great on the track, they took a close third in the time trial after the Kleenspeed WX10 racecar and the Wrightspeed X1. Given that both of those are AC-150 powered, with approximately double the peak power of the dp1e it’s not a surprise, but impressive how close it came.

See the rest:

I didn’t get a good look at the Kleenspeed racecar with the hood up, but I saw the AC-150- a good starting point for a real fast machine. I’ve got to say, I’m more interested in cars that push the boundaries a bit with more experimental motor systems, especially in this day of booming growth and diversity in brushless motors.

I’d seen the Wrightspeed X1 before, and while the specs and performance is way up there, the big lithium brick/ariel atom/AC-150 formula isn’t all that new and exciting these days. Of course it works well!

Also representing the AC Propulsion AC-150 was the EBox and original T-Zero. The T-Zero still holds up well as a very unique and well constructed car.

eeVee motors brought one of their Honda Civic based conversions. It’s a pretty tidy package. Azure AC-24 and ThunderSky pack. Good combo. Funny sounding power steering pump.

The borderline nuts Capstone CMT-380 Diesel turbine series hybrid supercar showed up as I had seen before at the Maker faire. They didn’t do much driving in it, not sure if it was having issues or if they’re just precious about it. It’s quite an impressive car in a totally crazy in the head sort of way.

Speaking of being precious about a car, EV4U custom conversion’s Beetle was there, with fresh paint and a caretaker extremely apprehensive about getting it messed up. Other than that, floodeds and a Curtis. Move on, nothing to see here. If he had driven it on-track my car wouldn’t have earned the distinction of being slowest. (… wow, that’s some snarky attitude)

Optamotive brought their X-prize contender “E-Rex”- despite looking a bit rough around the edges (work in progress) it seemed to run alright. It’s definitely got potential.

Finally, Jeff McCabe brought his 928 conversion, complete with a very nice looking pack of Taiwanese cylindrical LiFePO4 cells. If I had the cash this is definitely a direction I’d like to go with the MX-5. His motor and controller are similar to mine, but the performance of the Lithium pack really sets his car on another performance level.

Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to check out all the bikes and other three-wheelers. It was an interesting spread of EVers represented here- looked like everyone enjoyed themselves. I had a great time, enjoyed seeing the spread and meeting new people. Looking forward to next year! I’ve been inspired by a ride in the stupid-fast Tesla Roadster to build something electric, lithium powered and really fast. Probably the Kart. We’ll see.

See Part one for my personal experience at the event.

Thanks very much to Miles K. for photographs.

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Now in its second year, the REFUEL all-electric expo and race at Laguna Seca Raceway was held last Sunday, the 11th of July. Held by Speed Ventures, it’s an opportunity for owners of electric cars or motorcycles to drive on track in a track-day setting, as well as compete in a time trial style race against the other electrics. I missed the event last year but made a point to attend this time, and to my great satisfaction was able to bring the electric MX5.

It was a bit of a stretch to get the car down to Monterey, arranging trailer and towing facilities around my friends’ schedules, but in the end things worked out well- the car made it down and back safely with no incident. There was even enough space to bring the electric bike and electric recliner- both of which fulfilled their purposes very well and were great fun to have along.

We arrived at about 8:30 AM after about three hours on the road and found the racetrack hidden in thick fog. By the time the first session came around the fog had burned off though, leaving beautiful sunny, breezy weather for the rest of the day. I made it out for two sessions on the track, for exactly two laps each before the batteries were too soft to continue. Coming over the big hill to the corkscrew corner on the second lap was accomplished at near a crawl.

I had a good chance to get more of a feel for how the new Rudman regs perform, mainly how much additional convection cooling they need in operation- I had to keep chasing the overheating reg around the pack with an electric fan. It’s definitely good to be putting some cycles on this pack, it’s clearly starting to work itself out and become more balanced. The battery I thought was weak and having self discharge problems seems to be behaving better. I am wondering if perhaps my old balancer system was causing a higher quiescent discharge on it than on the others.

My car was the only one driving on track with lead batteries, and one of only two brushed DC powered cars- it’s not a surprise that it was the slowest car out there. Despite that it was incredibly fun and gratifying to take around the track- and what a beautiful track. Sure I could have done better racing in practically anything gas-powered, but that’s not the point. Finally after three years working on the car I can drive it and charge it at a racetrack 120 miles from home- that’s really something. The car is unique- smooth, quiet and really pleasant to drive, even reasonably fast when fresh off the charger. Two laps, about four and a half miles of hard driving is pretty much the limit before the voltage sag completely destroys the driveability of the car. According to the Cycle Analyst that’s about 12-16 AH in- I’m not sure if this is a reasonable useful capacity out of the 55AH Optimas or if they have suffered in the last year they’ve been sitting full but rarely cycled.

The bike performed excellently as usual as a speedy runaround, and was passed around a bit for test rides. The electric recliner was the real star of the show. Sitting out of view in the truck while remote-crusing it around the paddock was stupid fun. We maneuvered it over near the Palatov Motorsports trailer and distracted them from their cars for a bit with some antics that Dennis ended up mentioning on his site (See dp1e section, 7/9/10 post). Then at the end of the day I traded a ride in the chair for a ride in a Tesla Roadster- something I had never managed to get before. Suffice it to say the Tesla knocked my socks off.

All in all, a fantastically successful day.

See part Two for my thoughts about the other cars that showed up to the event.

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I had the privilege of attending the first ever US TTXGP All-electric motorcycle road race on Sunday May 16th at Infineon Raceway. I arrived with uncertain expectations about the nature of the race- I was impressed by the innovation and variation in the bikes and the determination of the teams. Here are the results in place order, with my photographs and technical observations and impressions:

First Place: Zero/Agni

Coming from their victory at the 2009 Isle of Man TTXGP Zero/Agni put up a formidable and balanced showing. The combination of an excellent rider, a good-handling bike with a balance of power, battery capacity and thermal management allowed them a handy victory.

The large rectangular Molicel battery pack is mounted oblique in the frame. With the composite fairing installed the rider appears to rest almost flat on top of it. Molicel supplies batteries for Zero’s production bikes.

Looks like an analog balancing system. I don’t believe I’ve see this system before.

Dual Agni Lynch motors coupled directly with a steel shaft with sprocket. Adequate power, good cooling from outboard mounting and ram-air scoops taken from the production bike.

The Zero/Agni team ran a very clean and uneventful race. Their bike clearly balances proven reliability and performance.

Read on for the rest of the competitors-

2. Lightning

This was my favorite bike at the event, I think they’re really a team to watch. While teams building an electric vehicle are often required to do some custom design of battery packs or management systems, there are several off the shelf solutions for motor drive and transmission. Every other bike used one of these off the shelf drive systems. These guys however put together a one-of-a-kind drive using an EV-1 induction motor.

The story I’ve heard goes like this: several years ago someone in the EV community found the GM parts department number for the EV-1 motor and transaxle and tried ordering one from a GM dealer. It was shipped to the dealer and was able to be purchased just like any other GM part. Several members of the EV in-crowd then proceded to buy as many as they could, until the stock ran out or GM wised up to what was going on and shut off the supply. I believe they managed to get a hold of sixteen or seventeen motors. Last I heard not all of them have been installed but the folks who hold them are very protective, because they are fantastic motors, rare, and hold a special emotional importance with the EV-1 connection.

Anyways, the EV-1 drive system was capable of 100kw. Without official numbers I would guess the Lightning bike was running near that, maybe more. Suffice it to say the bike was fast. Extremely fast. For the first half of the race the Zero/Agni bike would pull ahead with far superior corner speed then the Lightning bike would effortlessly pull ahead in the straights with its massive power. Massive power comes at a cost though, the second half of the race saw drastically reduced power that left Lightning playing catch-up continuously. I didn’t get the official word on the cause of the slow-down, I expect it was a combination of heat buildup and battery depletion. The rider actually stopped the bike near the end of the race to attempt to let the systems cool down.

Both the Lightning inverter and motor are liquid-cooled, in fact the motor even has an oil cooling circuit as well. It was the only bike with plumbing. I observed their radiator up front, looked about 10″ x 18″. Given the insane power levels they were running I’m not surprised they had heat buildup issues. It’s possible they were also having battery heating issues, but with enough A123 batteries to power through a 25 mile race I bet they weren’t pushing the C rating, already very high for the A123s. As well, the batteries perform better warm.

They’re running a Elithion Lithiumate BMS with 7 banks used- likely indicating usage of somewhere between 56 and 112 series cells- no more than 370v nominal. Considering the EV1′s nominal voltage of 311, they’re probably running closer to 112 series cells than 56.

Drive was accomplished with a two stage reduction, first stage timing belt, second stage chain. PFC50 to charge.

The rear of the EV1 motor can be (barely) seen here.

I was curious about the specifics of the inverter. It’s nothing I have seen on the market. I was unable to get a clear answer about its origin or prototype/production status. I would guess that the main sponsor of the team designed it and is considering marketing something like it. They did tell me it’s based on IGBT modules. Uses a 4 quadrant full vector control algorithm. They have installed a custom quadrature encoder on the motor to replace the GM specified one.

I believe with better handling or better driving, better thermal management and moderated energy usage this bike could win the race. It’s incredible power early on was seriously inspiring.

3. Electric Race Bikes

This bike had a similar setup to the winning bike, with dual outboard mounted, shaft coupled Agni motors, allowing a fairly high-ratio single reduction. The bike was quick and reliable, leading to a respectable third place finish.

I was interested to see that they appear to be running Headway LiFePO4 batteries. At least, that’s the only battery I’m aware of that is about that size in a shiny blue foil wrap.

If there’s a recipe for success in this race it would seem to currently be the dual Agni setup.

4. Werkstatt

Despite an odd hiccup in the first lap, Werkstatt came in first of the two production-based bikes racing. The Mavizen TTX02 is a very impressive machine, with the polish that comes with a professionally designed product. Again with the dual Lynch motors. Recipe for success indeed.

5. K Squared

Coming in next after but significantly behind the big Mavizen is the Zero S based K Squared bike. With its small size an weight the K Squared bike ran a good race. There’s no doubt the Zero S is a very capable machine.

6. Pril Motors

The Pril Motors team made up for less high-dollar components with reliability and solid driving. This bike is the only one represented in the race using a sep-ex DC motor (in fact, only team using anything besides induction or brushed permag), a 6.7″ size. Single speed chain reduction necessitates the gigantic rear sprocket, but is more efficient than double reductions.

According to their website they are using pouch type LiFePO4 batteries.

7. Square Wave

From the file of “interesting drivetrain ideas that might not actually end up being the best, but impressive nonetheless” comes the Square Wave bike.

Using a belt CVT primary drive enables the high-ratio secondary chain but is less efficient than direct drive, and as demonstrated by every other bike there, largely unnecessary. Thunder-Sky batteries are not usually thought of as good racing batteries, but that’s because most modern EV racing is drag racing, not time-trial. Thunder-sky batteries are supposed to be good to 3c (reports vary about the accuracy of the manufacturer’s 10c pulse claims, some even cite unacceptable sag under 3c draw). 3C draw will drain a battery in 1/3 hour, or 20 minutes. The race lasts longer than that, so assuming constant 3c usage, you should be able to use your entire TS battery capacity. That’s not entirely the racing reality, you need to let off sometimes, and you need higher peak power for acceleration. However, it is worth taking into account the importance of capacity alongside power density in selecting a battery for a longer race.

The Square Wave bike was outfitted with 90AH thunder-sky batteries, the 6.7″ C-face induction motor usually sold with the Curtis inverters, and a Curtis 1236 inverter. It ran the whole race, but was very slow.

8. Electric Motorsport

Reliability problems plagued the Electric Motorsport bike. Curtis 1238 inverter. TS or Sky-energy looking batteries, except in teal. Not sure what brand.

DNF: Volt Motors

Reliability problems also for the Thunderstruck-EV sponsored Volt Motors bike. Curtis Induction setup again, with single reduction, big-sprocket rear end.

DNF: Team Electra

Even with awesome vintage cafe racer looks, built on a vintage Norton frame, with LiFePO4 batteries and induction drive system the Electra team ended up breaking down fatally mid-race. Hopefully they will be better sorted next time.

The SWIGZ.com pro team and Bob Schneeveis’s Empirical Electric team didn’t make it into the race.

Overall the race was extremely impressive. I have great respect for the TTXGP organization and every team who makes it out to run this race. It’s exciting to see electric vehicles make it back onto the road track in this new era of affordable and high performance lithium batteries and many high power and efficiency drive systems. The TTXGP organization is providing a venue for advancing EV racing from hobby to professional, and while there aren’t enough teams with big resources and sponsorship to fill a race I’m sure it will grow. But in its infancy it’s a great opportunity for newcomers to experiment with technology and inventive solutions- there’s not really a “killer app” yet, it’s possible to have hugely different bikes competing neck and neck. And that’s pretty neat.

Please let me know if I’ve got any facts wrong! Also, contact me for higher resolution photos.

Photos taken with Canon Digital Rebel XT and Pentax 300mm/f4 lens.

Thanks to Plugbike for the race results.

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My racing team ran in the Sears Pointless LeMons race last weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma- I chose not to drive but stuck around the whole weekend to support my team and work on the car. It was definitely our best LeMons race yet- we had virtually no problems with the car, only a slipping fan belt (we had a spare) and received only minor penalties, resulting in plenty of track time for all our drivers. Infineon is a really nice facility for spectating with fantastic vantage points and seating all around the track and plenty of bathrooms and facilities. It’d be convenient to have power in the pits, but we did OK without. And the word from the drivers is that the track is really fun. Hopefully LeMons will make it back there and we will be able to run there again. I wouldn’t like to have missed my only chance to drive there.

I arrived early Friday morning and secured a pit space nice and close in, and adjacent to three other 300ZX teams, which was pretty neat in itself. In the time I spent waiting for my teammates to arrive I pulled out my paints and a piece of plywood I had kicking around in the back of the car and made a sign matching the colors and design on the car. I painted it with my fingers.

We had replaced the drivers side door with an undented one Christian found on Craigslist, but I hadn’t gotten a chance to paint it before the race, so we started the race just with a spraycanned 5 on the primered door. As we settled into the routine and the car continued to perform well I got the paint out and put coats of paint on the door between driver changes so that it could dry out on the track. While a bit goofy, and leading to some unintended consequences the door did get pretty much painted. Christian leaned into the car to retrieve the extinguisher while the purple paint was wet- and got it all over his front.

On the second day I got out some scraps of steel stock I had brought and designed a little video camera mount for the car, then between driver changes I welded it on and set up my old point and shoot with a 2gb card shooting video, good for about an hour. My first attempt, welded to the rear shock mount tower took nice video of the driver but wasn’t able to see out over the hood and get any kind of view of the track, except on steep downhills. Other than for learning that one of our drivers never, and I mean never puts two hands on the wheel that location turned out to be pretty useless. So I set up another little mount right between the rearview mirror and the windshield, welded to the roof. It gets a real nice view out over the hood of the track and everything going on on it, and even catches a reflection of the gauge cluster every once in a while when the sun is just right. Not to say there isn’t further improvement to be made, but it works pretty well.

Sean brought his DMC-12 for the Concours de LeMons- along with Evil Clint’s more funky DeLorean and the racecar FauxLorean CRX it was quite the scene. We had joked that he would win the “Nicest DeLorean” Concours award, and indeed he won the “Hey look it’s a DeLorean” award. I mean, it’s a DeLorean, you’ve got to give it some kind of award, even if it didn’t really win something. It was pretty neat to see it making parade laps on the track too. Crusing along the back straight behind the wall with its low profile it looked like a crocodile skimming along a lake just under the surface.

The Oldlady Z will race again, but needs a good bit of work before then- Jay mandated some roll cage modifications (again…) and the brakes are really on their last legs. With all the time we spent on the track they’re just getting worn out. Rotors are warped to hell, and pads may be ready to go too. The clutch seems to be behaving itself, but it may be prudent to reinstall a good clutch the right way for future reliability. Or we could just wait until it breaks. The other thing is a persistent tendency to run hot- it doesn’t overheat consistently but overheats too often and generally runs hotter than it ought to. Overheating is known as a destroyer of this engine, so that’s a problem we’d like to “lick”. A new cheap radiator and maybe an electric fan could be in order.

We finished 88th out of 147, and 5th out of 5 300zxs. About average finish for us. We could have done much better if we had just been better organized about spending every minute on the track- and it would help to get the overheating solved for sure, that alone has cost us time most consistently at the last couple races. The judges said they had given us 15 penalty laps for our (junkyard, god’s honest truth) adjustable shocks, but it seems they didn’t actually write it down anywhere. Whatever.

Another good race, good vacation, good time with friends, good meeting people, good food and having a good time. We’ve canceled our acceptance to T-hill in May due to budget and the required work on the car, but we’re hoping to be back before the season is out.

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First, get yourself a pack of these “TWIN DRAFT GUARD” (AS SEEN ON TV) “MAGNETIC VENT COVERS” from your local Bed Bath and Beyond – maybe walmart or target carries this or something similar as well-

They’re not very strongly magnetic, but I tested it on the freeway, didn’t go anywhere. And cheap! $9.99 for 3. Good enough.

Next, draw some numbers on them with a fat permanent marker- I decided on 1, so we can be 15, 51, or 5 using the 5 painted on the car. Drawing a 6 would give you the most versatility, as you can just flip it over and it will become a 9- tricky! UPDATE: I just thought of something else- even better. Since the package of magnets includes three sheets, cut one in half and make 1′s, then make 6/9s on the other two- then for $10 bucks you’ve got 1, 9, 6, 16, 19, 61, 91… seven unique number possibilities! That’s quite a bargain!

Simple as that! Indeed, they stick to cars! That is, as long as you don’t have a Saturn, or DeLorean, or Corvette, or……

But If you have one of those your paint will probably survive some masking tape.

The vaunted 1(doorhandle)1 Camry Race Wagon

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Laying out the slices

The “IKEA” phase

The AftermathThe paint is Home Depot’s cheapest high gloss interior/exterior, applied by foam roller. It looks really fantastic. Now- for the rest of the theme…

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The new theme is space pirates. We are space pirates. The car is a space pirate raceship. How about that!?

I’ve begun redecorating the car, taking it down to a blank slate.

Before:

Old paint stripped:

Rear window removed, the only possible way:

And two coats of primer, applied with a foam roller:

Blank slate indeed! Don’t worry, the rooster will make a re-appearance. Just for reference, a quart of primer is just about right for 2 coats on a 300zx with a foam roller…

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On my Pacific Northwest roadtrip, as described before, I stopped in Portland for the Wayland Invitational at PIR- set during open weekend drag nights, but with John Wayland's organization a whole EV get together on top.

Some of the photos have clicky links to relevant pages. Mouseover to see if you get the little clicky linky hand.

Bunches more photos lie BELOW- click “Continue Reading”!

Neon's electric buggy was there

As were four Roadsters

Otmar's Quick-change Zilla swapper in his orange 914- test bed for hundreds of Zillas

Crazyhorse Pinto

Bill Dube's Killacycle

Killacycle's trick pneumatic brush-timing actuator

SSIC had their T-Bucket and Daytona Coupe (as seen in the first photo)

Electric Motorsport was there with bikes

The Killacycle toasted a motor Friday night

Saturday morning Jim Husted took a look at the SSIC Daytona's 11" WarP

Jim Husted's sweet mini-cruiser

On to the fun part- racing!

The Crazyhorse Pinto's crazy torque caused the tires to deform and fold over- sort of "flap". I understand this often happens on high-torque drag cars, but with the quiet electric drivetrain that "flapping" was the loudest sound you could hear as it went down the strip.

Tesla Roadster drag racing is not all that interesting- very consistant, quick for a street car, very quiet. The sound of a couple roadsters flying by at 100+ mph at the finish line is pretty neat though.

The SSIC Daytona was blazingly fast off the line, but wasn't geared well for top end speed.

This converted Samurai NEV was very slow. I think it hit 38 or so MPH, 1/4 mile in 50+ sec. They only raced it once though so it was OK

Speaking of NEVs, someone brought a ZENN out also. It quickly reached and then sat right at its limiter, 43 MPH or so

Obligatory sequence of Killacycle shots

The Killacycle is so mind-bogglingly fast, it is absolutely worth it to see it in person

The T-Bucket was detuned and running 15/16sec that weekend, still looked like a load of fun. I got a little spin around the parking lot in it- running similar power level to my Miata. Was very fun. It's on my list of goals to have a car without a windshield someday.

The White Zombie takes another victim.

The SSIC Daytona leaves a fat Audi in the dust

Then- a surprise. Dave Cloud has a reputation for showing up last minute with something crazy and cool- True to form he showed up Saturday at 9pm with this sort of Jr dragster- Let's see- tube frame, 24+ costco lead batteries, came to the track with the tires uninflated, reverse by way of flex plate and starter motor attached to one of the motor shafts, dual motor main drive with Curtis controller for creeping around and set of pneumatically actuated contactors for series/parallel switching of the motors and battery banks (72/144v)- This thing was seriously impressive in a homebuilt, most-from-the-least sort of way.

Rumors were flying that this run could easily result in some kind of disaster- but it didn't, the car turned in a respectable 95mph trap speed

It is likely that given good tires and batteries this dragster could turn in very good times- those contactors are going to be able to deliver more power than any controller if the rest of the system can handle it. I really enjoyed seeing this creation, it was definitely one of the high points of the weekend for me.

A good time had by all- Maybe I’ll have to tow the Miata up next time…

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It was a big trip- many days and many miles, but I am very happy I made it. Getting out of the house and the routine is an absolutely helpful way to break the ruts and routines of daily life, being out and on the road helped me focus on things I’ve let slide. I read John DeLorean’s book about GM- On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors and Matthew Crawford’s new book Shop Class as Soul Craft – both of which were interesting perspectives on the life story/making the best of one’s individual situation, life and times.

I spent two nights in Crater Lake N.P., camping. I love Crater Lake very much, it’s a favorite spot of mine. I attempted to take a panoramic photo of the lake from a nearby mountaintop, it remains to be seen whether I came up with anything usable. I then spent four nights in Corvallis, staying at Otmar E.’s house- he’s the guy who designed and built the Zilla controller. I was very glad to be able to meet him and hear about the route he took through the last thirty years or so, getting to where he is, being who he is. It is very helpful in my thinking about college/projects/life to hear about others’ experiences and reflections.

I spent Friday night in Portland, in John Wayland’s back yard after the friday night Wayland Invitational EV drags at PIR- PIR’s regular weekend night drags- plus a healthy bonus showing of EVs of all sorts. The drags were really great. I hadn’t seen drag racing in person before- it’s quite a spectacle. Some of the EVs there are really impressive- the KillaCycle steals the show, it’s just mind-bendingly fast.

Saturday night after the drags I hopped back on I-5 heading north in search of a motel- but as time marched on I decided instead to just crash in a rest stop until the sun came up. I spent three hours between 2:30 AM and 5:30 AM sleeping in the back of the car, then got back on the road to get to my aunt’s house on Whidbey Island. I got there at about noon and then showered and crashed- spent the next week there with my aunt and her partner, then drove back over two days, Saturday and Sunday.

Now that I’m back home I need to again find my momentum and resolve- being on the road with the constant stress of being away from home wards off the lazyness and torpor that I have already been fighting upon arriving back here. It’s great to have the conveniences of home, and I am happy to be reunited with my sister, am looking forward to my parents return, but it’s very easy to get diffused and distracted by the convenience of home. I have a great list of short term and medium-term tasks and projects to do, as well as restoring and cleaning out the car to its pre-roadtrip state, and writing a couple posts up for this site— and even just today have found myself distracted and ineffectual. I’m not disparing, I have all kinds of confidence- I just need to shake off this heavy lazy blanket that decends down on me automatically…

So, tomorrow’s another day, and will be better. Of course I’ve already sort of screwed it up by having stayed up here to 3:30 AM, but it’s OK, it’s all OK.

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I read Jalopnik regularly, so I became aware this morning of the link they posted to Speed:Sport:Life about the expense of racing. I’m still not totally sure what the purpose of the article is, I guess it’s just to educate people who weren’t aware- and I guess that’s reasonable enough. I have always assumed that real racing is very expensive, but I appreciate the concrete compilation of forms of amateur racing, and their approximate costs.

The author’s brief discussion of LeMons was most interesting for me, having participated in the entire process of preparing and racing a car. My team was really cheap. We didn’t have very much money to spend, and cut just about every corner we could. I would estimate that we invested less than $1500 on the car, all inclusive. We used the original seat, junkyard rims, really cheap tires, and built the roll cage ourselves. We borrowed a trailer, towed with one of our own vehicles. We splurged and rented an RV, but including absolutely everything, I think each of the five of us spent less than $1500, and that’s starting from scratch, owning nothing relevant to the endeavor except mechanics tools and our personal cars. And now we own a (still functioning) car with a cage, as well as all the personal safety equipment to do it again. If When we do it again, I think we should be able to spend less than $500 each.

Like I was wondering about the S:S:L article, you may be wondering what my point is here- I guess I don’t have a point anyways. I think the author was a little harsh on the value of a LeMons event, and I would disagree that “buying a seat” on a LeMons team is the way to go- besides simply “seat time” I think the LeMons preparation and event experience was a big challenge to learn how to better work with my team (my friends), and as really my introduction to anything having to do with car racing, gave me a lot of information, fast, about how it works- all in an setting where people are (generally) tolerant of your inexperience. So, $1500 for 1.5 hrs of  “seat time” isn’t that great by the S:S:L author’s benchmarks- but there was a lot more value than just “seat time” in lemons, for me.

Yesterday I went and checked out the San Fransisco Region SCCA autocross event at the coliseum in Oakland. I was pretty impressed by the scene, there was a good mix of totally stock cars and totally race cars, with a wide spectirum of driving skills not necesesarily paired with the raciness of the cars- in other words there were some great drivers driving mostly stock cars and some crappy drivers driving nicely speced out cars- and a broad range of other car/driver pairings. People were generally friendly once I got the courage to actually introduce myself and engage them, it was generally a nicely spirited, noncompetitive, friendly, well organized event. I’m sure if the S:S:L author had included it on his list it would be described as “not real racing” as LeMons was, but it is reasonably cheap and is a good time- and a reasonable way to get into performance driving. Just because it’s not on a track and not for long distances or durations doesn’t mean it’s not worthwile for beginners, and it’s pretty clear many people have made a serious, long-term commitment to particularly this form of racing. It’s not a “seat time” bargain either- $35 plus dues for 10 min max?

I got rides around the course with a guy and his ’99 M3 and a different guy (Jason) and his ’93 white track Miata (suspension, exhaust work, wheels and tires). The M3 guy was pretty conservative- I think it was his daily driver, and it was his first time autocrossing. Despite that, it’s a quick car, not the slowest one out there. Jason is something of a regular, as far as I could tell- he’s not the fastest or most skilled driver, but he has the ability to drive the car hard without worrying that it won’t be able to get him to work the next morning and is working aggressively to improve his skills- that is to say, his driving was much more spirited than the M3′s drivers was… The Miata really is an excellent car- it was really fun to be in the passenger seat while Jason pushed the boundries of the traction around tight corners. It’s a fraction as powerful as the M3, but barreling through a slalom wide open you’re likely to forget that. He also spun it once- bringing back pleasant memories of LeMons.

So I’m looking forward to taking a car to the autocross to drive- soon- and there are at least five over the summer that are located at the Golden Gate Fields lot, 1 1/4 mile away from my house. I think the EV Miata should be an interesting AutoX contender once I get it put together… I’m not dissapointed by the S:S:L article’s harsh reality check- there are plenty of cheap racing options for me now. Someday when I’m more loaded (haha) I can consider the “real” ameteur racing options described.

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