This is a message I posted a couple of days ago on the electric vehicle
discussion list. I got to thinking that some of you land speed guys might
like to see it, too. Without further ado, here it is, an electric car guy's
impressions from his first weekend at El Mirage.
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Any of you that are old hot rodders are probably familiar with the SCTA
(Souther California Timing Association), and the speed trials they run at
El Mirage. The SCTA is also the sanctioning body for the annual speed
trials at the Bonneville Salt Flats, which probably most of you have heard
of. That's where folks go to set world speed records. This summer when I
was working on my drag bike (the DV8er, RIP), I started thinking about
Bonneville. I first learned about the Salt Flats from my Dad's extensive
Hot Rod Magazine collection back in the early 60's, and had been fascinated
ever since. With my dragbike finally coming together I started to think
about finally being able to run something at Bonneville myself.
So, when I had some free time in September I visited the Salt Flats and was
able to witness a land speed trial in action. It was a scouting trip to see
what I'd need to successfully field an attempt at the salt (who would have
thought a CB radio would be required equipment?), and to start talking to
the technical inspectors about what it'd take to run an electric bike. It
quickly became apparent that the motorcycle inspector wasn't sure what
would be required for an electric bike. While there are classes for
electric cars, and while electric cars have been run in the very recent
past, there haven't been any electric motorcycles run in an SCTA-sanctioned
event in a really long time. The only one I've heard of is the bike Mike
Corbin ran back in the early 70's. So, with that visit I began a process
that is still ongoing in helping the SCTA formulate rules and classes for
electric motorcycles.
To follow up on that process I visited El Mirage last weekend. The SCTA was
having their final speed trial of the year at the El Mirage dry lake,
located about 25 miles East of Lancaster, CA. I had decided that if I was
going to run at Bonneville it made sense to do some runs at El Mirage first
to sort everything out. I would also be able to meet and talk to the head
of the SCTA motorcycle rules committee, Dale Martin. They were racing
Saturday and Sunday, but tech inspection started on Friday at noon. I left
SF around 6:30 am Friday and after a few wrong turns in Lancaster made it
to El Mirage around 1:30 pm. There were already lots of folks there and
quite a few machines were lined up for inspection and more kept showing up
all the time. I gave Dale some information on the NEDRA electric vehicle
classes and also the FIM electric motorcycle rules that I'd downloaded from
the net.
I had a great time seeing lots of old hot rods, not so old hot rods, and
some very cool bikes. There were two Crosley-based modified coupes, a
couple of Hudson Hornets (including one that was supposed to have been
raced in NASCAR), something that looked just like and might have been an
old Indy racecar from the 50's, lots of Model-T hot rods, old Studebakers,
a 50cc streamliner motorcycle put together by some Boeing employees, and
other esoteric interesting machines. It was really alot like being at
Woodburn (note to you lsr folks, Woodburn is our annual EV Drag Racing
"Nationals" held each summer up in Oregon) in that there were machines you
just never expected to see, ever. And lots of genuine built-in-the-garage
ingenuity at work. Some were really funky and some were really pretty, too.
I really didn't expect to see any EVs, I mean, who does unless it's an
EVent, but on Saturday there one was. Not just any EV either, but Bruce
Meland's old electric motorcycle, the Black Ghost. Bruce sold it to someone
in LA, who for the weekend at least had loaned it to Derek, a guy that runs
bikes at El Mirage and who brought it out just for fun. It actually wasn't
running, which is probably why he'd been loaned the bike in the first
place, but he'd bought a replacement controller just in case. Me and
another guy helped him troubleshoot it a little bit Saturday afternoon and
after replacing the controller we finally traced the problem to a small 12
volt relay that connected the pack voltage to the key terminal on the
Curtis controller. It Ran!! But the batteries (Optimas, 72 volts worth)
were all kinda low and not at all balanced, and when we tried charging it
off a generator using the Zivan charger that came with the bike we got a
bright flash where the LED is. So, we unplugged it in a hurry and that was
that. I'm not familiar with Zivans so I wasn't sure if that flash was
normal or not, but Derek didn't want to risk trying it with somebody else's
generator.
As it turned out the technical inspector probably wouldn't have let the
bike run anyway. I know I wouldn't have since there were exposed battery
terminals and the batteries are only held on by nylon straps. The
commutator wasn't shielded very well. And there were probably lots of other
problems that would turn up if anyone looked very closely at it. Plus, it
didn't have the SCTA-required metal valve stem caps. Anyway, it was there
and it generated a lot of interest. Folks kept crowding up around it when
we were working on it and everybody was impressed. People also kept being
surprised at how quiet it was. I got a chance to ride it and was really
impressed with how smooth and quiet it was, too. No chain noise!
So, I've started the process of trying to get electric bikes allowed in
SCTA events, and I'm looking forward to the beginning of their season next
year in May. If anyone else is interested in competing in SCTA events at El
Mirage or at Bonneville, let me know. The more the merrier.
Henry Deaton
SF, CA
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