# A theorectical race track for EV dragsters



## Dennis (Feb 25, 2008)

I thought about the bad voltage sag problem of batteries and the weight of the batteries and I thought about what it would be like to have a well regulated DC supply provide the power externally to the vehicle so one could get down to the very low ET times in the 1/4 mile. The process involved to achieve this is to have a custom designed 1/4 mile track that has dual rails that are embedded about a foot or so into the asphalt for safety against shock hazard. The rails will be running parallel to the imaginary vertical center line of the track, and are spaced far enough apart so that the vehicles like a drag bike can have traction from the asphalt. One of the rails will be positive and the other will be negative. In addition, both rails have a type of grabbing device (two for motorcycles and 4 for 4-wheeled vehicles) that provides pull down force upon the retractable hooks that are attached to the vehicle such that the vehicle is held in place when it is traveling down the 1/4 mile distance. The vehicles should obtain the power by some type of pantograph type devices (one for the positive and one for the negative) that is connected to the hooks. 










The rail system should be able to supply up to 375 volts of regulated DC at 1,980 of available amps for high voltage set ups or it can be adjusted all the way down to zero volts. So with this power supply many different voltage divisions can enter the drag race.

The DC power supply for this set up would be a MTA375-1980 available from: http://www.magna-power.com/products/programmable-dc-power-supplies/mt-series. It has a load regulation of .01% full scale.

Once the racer gets about 100 foot past the finish line, have the power supply shut off for safety. The vehicles will need to be towed back to the staging area by an ATV or some other vehicle. The pantographs and the tie down anchors will be retracted parallel to the road when the vehicle is towed back to the staging area. The rail hold down system devices that are inside the tracks can be towed back to the start line by an ATV that have special attachments to push the hold down devices back to the starting line.


I know this will never be a reality, it is just my thoughts of what the EV dragsters COULD actually run if batteries were not the problem. I do a see a real world use for this power supply to make it easy to characterize all the common series wound DC motors used in EV's up to 1980 amps of current to see some real world torque data rather than go by equations that are only approximations.


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## DIYguy (Sep 18, 2008)

Electric trolley cars (buses) have been running this way for many years. The power line is overhead, but the concept is the same. They keep these going even with so many new systems out there as the maintenance is very low. Toronto is full of these (TTC).

Another idea that has been done and may have some potential way down the road... is wireless charging system buried in the roadway. It doesn't have to be continuous, just sections, and stop lights and parking for example. It sounds like an incredible investment in infrastructure, and it is, but compare it to the gazillion gas stations with buried tanks etc..... Of course this idea isn't for drag racing, but for practical range extension (limitless?) of EV's.


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## Woodsmith (Jun 5, 2008)

1:1 scale slot cars springs to mind.


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## Dennis (Feb 25, 2008)

Woodsmith said:


> 1:1 scale slot cars springs to mind.



This is more inline with what I was thinking, but the difference being is that the motor controller would be on board the dragsters changing the speed rather than varying the voltage of the DC supply. The DC supply would not suffer from severe sag nearly as much as the batteries would and therefore they would run better ET times. It would take quite a bit of money that I do not think all us together could even be enough to make it a reality. Still fun to think about though.


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## rwaudio (May 22, 2008)

Although it's an interesting idea, and would make for some good racing, we need racing for another purpose. Racing pushes technology that often trickles down to regular vehicles. Without the need for a better battery, we might not have people actively searching for or designing/commisioning companies to build that better battery. Although I don't care for him personally, Ron from ECEDRA is helping to push those limits by finding a new battery and making it available to others. From what I have seen, the fastest EV's are fast because of their batteries more than the choice or size of motor. And 1 or 2 Zilla 2k's seems like the only option for drag racing.


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## Salty9 (Jul 13, 2009)

How about siting the track near the equator on the west coast of South America. You could make it into a linear accelerator running up a steep slope of the Andes and launch satellites with it. It would be a more efficient way of slowing the earth's rotation than current launches.


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## piotrsko (Dec 9, 2007)

Salty9 said:


> How about siting the track near the equator on the west coast of South America. You could make it into a linear accelerator running up a steep slope of the Andes and launch satellites with it. It would be a more efficient way of slowing the earth's rotation than current launches.


UUUUHHH, we did that at Edwards AFB back in the day. didn't work then either.


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