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Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Sounds like a commerically sponsored version of an "Electrathon" (google it for more info) - a good way of generating sales I suppose.
I went to a local Electrathon at VFL Park years ago that was being run by RMIT - It was technically interesting to someone who was aware of the clever regenerative braking and power systems, but not very exciting to watch.
Since it was designed to encourage efficient EV design, the goal was to see who managed to complete the race (certain number of laps), or got the furthest (if noone completed it), thus the "racing" was quite boring the majority of the time, as the drivers were mainly interested in maximising their battery life and so were driving very conservatively and smoothly, rather than the usual cut'n'thrust overtaking of competitive racing..
Perhaps instead of "who got the furthest", the winner sould be judged on "who spent the most time out front" (even if they didnt finish the whole race) ? That might encourage a bit more racing and a bit less just "circulating" as they say when a race driver isnt really trying hard..
The other problem that occurred was the race was largely pre-determined by "Whoever had the best batteries" (in terms of kw/hr's per kilogram)..
Exide had just semi-released a new type of SLA battery technology (I forget the name of the tech, it was the same as they used to use in their "switch" batteries), which had a lot higher power-to-weight than "normal" batteries and was only available at the time to people with the right contacts in the industry, which caused a lot of grumbling at the event, as the teams lucky enough to have these new batteries clearly were clearly ahead of those less fortunate..
Anyway, back to point, EV Racing sounds like fun, and I like the idea of basig it on a go-kart chassis as those guys seem to, since it makes it very accessible since Go-Kart chassis can be had everywhere for not too many $, but I wouldnt make it a duration-based race..
Perhaps pick a number of laps that can be easily achieved even by a team running a low $ setup, which would leave more room for the "power wasting" competitive driving style ? _________________ Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people
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Sun Jun 12, 2005 1:07 pm |
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