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It
was great to have a Florida EVent.
What
a huge effort by Shawn Waggoner and his co-conspirators, Matt Graham
and Lowell Simmons. We hope they enjoyed it as much as the rest
of us did.
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| The
EVent was organized as the showpiece for the local chapter of the
Electric Auto Association,
with the drag race sanctioned by the National
Electric Drag Racing Association. |
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image that sticks in my mind from the Friday night drags was Matt
Graham's black Nissan lined up against Lowell Simmons' Black Porsche.
These cars looked serious. Style points go to Lowell for that intimidating
burn-out. The sparks coming from beneath the car had the crowd on
their feet (and the rest of us going, "ohh, that can't be good!").
No wonder Matt red-lighted. |
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Matt's
car is striking! Lots of effort put in to make the installation clean.
My favorite view: Through the open hood. Plexiglas shield over the
battery tops with Rudman regs flashing. Zilla straight ahead and all
the wiring bundled.
Least favorite view: The rear of the 240SX in the other lane as it
pulls away when I was racing against it. |
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The
Show and Shine went by too quickly. I did not get a
chance to talk with everyone I wanted to speak with. Next time I might
have to show up on
time. |
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This
was my first opportunity to help set up an autocross and it was
an interesting experience. Safety considerations dictate the course
outline. In our oval roadway, the side away from the staging area
had to be the fastest.
Within
this outline we tried to set up a course that offered the drivers
a choice of lines. For example, Lowell set up a very wide starting
gate. If you staged your car all the way to the outside, the immediate
sharp left hand turn required less lock and could be run at greater
speed. Autocross should be a mental challenge as well as physical.
The
rules were, every person got 6 runs. Best time wins. Knocking a
cone out of its box adds 3 seconds to your time.
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I think
Steve Clunn was the first one to run. With all that torque it was
easy to tell when he was on the throttle -the rear wheels would
smoke.
Charles
Whalen's RAV4 was a big hit. He let different people run it through
the course and others were jumping in as passengers.
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High School teams were the most serious competitors. The Voltsdragon,
Sweetheart and the 911 ran hard. I did a 30 seconds first run and
then watched as they worked to beat it. Their cars did not have the
power of the Imp but you could watch the brake lights and tell that
they were carrying their momentum through the corners. Harrison Mohn
turned a 29.24 in the Shenandoah's Datsun 240Z and it was time for
me to make a second run.
A 28
seconds run put the Imp back on top. I watched for a little longer
before I realized it was getting late and if I was going to drive
the Electric Imp from the track, I better get it on charge. I made
an error on my next run, turning a 26 but knocking down a cone.
I back off a little and turned a clean 26.68. This left me with
two unused runs in case anyone threatened my time. I put the Electric
Imp on charge.
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| The
high school teams seem to have a great rule that anybody who works
on the car should have a chance to drive. The cars kept going and
going as each driver took their laps. Full credit to Ricky Lewis and
his sons Tim and Chad from Northeast Guilford High School and Byron
Grove-Humphries and the Shenandoah Valley Governor's School team (including
the parents). Everybody was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and helpful.
From running the timing equipment to picking up the cones at the end
of the evening. |
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The
Electric Imp took home some hardware.
>
Second Place in the drag race;
> Best Design at the Show and Shine;
> First Place in the Autocross, and
the overall award
> Best of Battery Beach 2006.
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See
results here: http://floridaeaa.org/modules/content/index.php?id=20.
An
excellent weekend.
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