# Salt Flats WoS 2010



## major (Apr 4, 2008)

DavidDymaxion said:


> <Forwarded post from NEDRA list>
> ... Eva pulled out to the right near the beginning of this run... They'd decided to try pulling up the landing gear at 40mph, and that proved to still be a little too slow to be stable, so they'll try again soon, pulling up the gear at a higher speed. No other issues with the bike, and the automatic deployment of the chute happened properly
> 
> </Forwarded post>


Yeah David,

Better get your butt out there before all the salt's gone 

And for those who don't know Eva, see http://www.facebook.com/killacycle 

And David, don't forget the red duct tape and case of eggs  Maybe Mike has something planned for Bill 

It doesn't look like I'll make this event. Richard says he just about has all the salt off the bike from 2 weeks ago. I guess he will just bag up the salt and bring it back next time. Save the Salt ya know 

To all of you nuts, be fast and be safe.

major


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

The good things about races is I make months of progress in a few days! I'm hurrying I'm hurrying!

I was on the phone with one of the folks out there. Buckeye Bullet isn't there. The KillaJoule keeps turning one way, the KillaJoule team is talking to other teams to try to sort that out.

I assume the red duct tape and eggs are a joke? Hmmm, I do have some black duct tape, a can of red spray paint, and a few eggs I could bring... 

Too bad you are missing this meet Major any hope you'll be out at finals?


major said:


> Yeah David,
> 
> Better get your butt out there before all the salt's gone
> 
> ...


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

Singleton's hybrid ran an 82 mph warm up run. Don't know if that was pure electric or not. The car is a former record setter that went much faster on a gasoline engine.


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## major (Apr 4, 2008)

DavidDymaxion said:


> I assume the red duct tape and eggs are a joke? Hmmm, I do have some black duct tape, a can of red spray paint, and a few eggs I could bring.


Not that close to Mike, but he sounded serious to me  



> Too bad you are missing this meet Major any hope you'll be out at finals?


Yeah, ya know, once that salt gets into your blood, literally, it's hard to shake it. 

What is the deal... Another run????????? MPH??????????

{edit out}...........good luck to you, Bill and Eva.

Regards,

major


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

One on my on-scene friends reported the KillaJoule keeps turning to one side -- they are trying to get that worked out. Your record is safe... for today... 

Singletons 82 mph was on gas. The electric part of their hybrid keeps shutting down. I have a new goal now! That and to beat the whole bunch of those 40 hp original VW bugs!


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

I revved my motor with my homebrew controller! That alone should almost double my speed! Back to working on the car!


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

Forwarded from the NEDRA list. Mike is the NEDRA president. Great post, and great to hear 20+ school buses of kids were exposed to EVs!

----- Forwarded Message ----
*From:* Mike Willmon <[email protected]>
*To:* NEDRA <[email protected]>
*Sent:* Thu, September 16, 2010 11:10:58 PM
*Subject:* [NEDRA] Killa Joule on the salt

Hi all, just a quick blurb on the Killa Joule status. I won't steal 
all Eva's thunder (or should I say lightning) but wanted to give a 
quick status. Still no complete run. First tenth of a mile and the 
landing gear came up too early. With the landing gear touching the 
ground Eva could not tell when the bike was stable enough to raise the 
gear. Some old timers with a streamliner bike said to shim the gear 
off the ground. Did so and then she was able to feel when the bike 
went neutral, but that then revealed a steering misalignment of 
sorts. We worked on that today, will make a test run outside the pits 
in the morning to see if the tweak helped. Then hope to get a full 
run in. As Eva said nobody has a book written yet on how to build and 
run a streamliner bike. But she's working on a post to the Killacycle 
Face Book page. I'll cross post it here, but check the Killacycle FB 
page for up to date posts tomorrow 

Oh yeah and I want to say what an honor it was to have Roger Hedlund 
here today visiting, answering questions not only from us, but by the 
general public. He was amazed at how the turnout to the Salt Flats had 
grown in the 30 some odd years since he was there. I was dismayed 
though that there were not many more electrics to show for it since 
his and a few others performances back in the early 1970's :-( But it 
was a fun day. Several members got to chat with Roger and when we got 
on the topic of blowing up batteries I had to ask Roger if he had 
blown up any. He described about every kind of battricide that I have 
seen. Surely it was he truth from a man running an electric over 100 
mph in the 1/4 mile over 36 years ago  He was wondering just how 
many were in "his" club. I told him not nearly enough.

There were school bus loads of kids showing up (I counted over 20 and 
I know there were some I missed) thanks to Kent and Brent Singleton 
who set it up with USFRA so that kids showing up in school busses get 
in free. And guess where they parked? Both sides of the NEDRA and 
Killa Joule trailers  lots of onlookers when we were in the pits.

More later. This is way too much fun. I got it. Salt fever. They 
warned me it was contageous. But did I listen? 'course not ;-)
way
Mike


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## major (Apr 4, 2008)

DavidDymaxion said:


> One on my on-scene friends reported the *KillaJoule *keeps turning to one side --


You know? KillaJoule is actually a really small amount of energy compared to what we usually deal with. 1 kJ = 0.00028 kWh  Oppps. That would be kiloJoule, not KillaJoule. Oh well. I hope they get it straightened out. I want to see what she's got 

If not, maybe they can run circle tracks


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## major (Apr 4, 2008)

First successful run. 88.82 mph. The bike ran good. They are going to let her run 2 more times on this short course.




Copied from http://www.facebook.com/killacycle


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## major (Apr 4, 2008)

Sounds like World of Speed 2010 is over.

From the FB, it sounds like Eva blew out a training wheel (I mean landing gear ) on her last attempt. I didn't hear anything more, so I assume all are safe and headed home.

I heard nothing from David. Hey David, how'd ya do?????


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

It was a great EVent, I am already excited for going next year. I'm going to do a monster write up with pics. It was quite an adventure, it'll be a fun read.

Thanks to Mark C. for being ready to crew for me (I wasn't ready Thursday, unfortunately). Kevin Y. ( http://utahebikes.com ) crewed for me Friday, with help from Brett D. My family crewed for me Saturday. In addition, I had crewing offers to help from Kent S., Mike W. (NEDRA president), and a visiting friend. Cory P. (lithium motorcycle), Carl Clarke (one of my sponsors, http://www.evequipmentsupply.com/ ), Mark C., and myself were there from UtahEVInterest. There was an Electric Auto Association guy from Idaho (or was it Iowa?), forgot his name. Bill Dube and Eva were also there to race.

Electric vehicles included the KillaJoule (streamliner motorcycle) ( http://www.facebook.com/killacycle ) , my 9Electric ( http://ExplodingDinosaurs.com ) , and 2 electric barstools. On static display were Eva's Electrocat, and Mike W.'s fast drag racer pinto. For the fun of riding around Mike W. had an electric chopper, and Kevin Y. had two of his electric scooters. They were great fun to ride!

The KillaJoule had tracking problems the whole meet -- they could not keep it straight enough to remain on course. They did get a 65ish and 88 mph runs on the short course, but those don't count. They were never able to keep the bike straight enough on the long course to trip the  timing trap lights. Part of it is Eva is a motorcyclist, but not used to being locked into a long wheelbase streamliner. The other thing is they found some misalignments, some weight imbalance, and a problem with the landing gear.

For myself, I was tow-regenned to top up the batteries to the starting line. My homebrew controller worked great, I could easily vary the amount of charging, and even slip the wheels. My first run I effortlessly did 55 mph on just 48 Volts. I was ecstatic, I was being very gentle, and ran 15 mph faster than last year. Unlike last year, the motor was barely warm, a big improvement over how hot it was last year. Run 2, I tried to work the car a bit harder. The controller response was a bit irregular. At the 1/2 mile mark I started smelling a bad smell, and coasted across the 1 mile short course finish line. It looked like I had fried my controller. No biggy it is 1/10 the price of a Zilla or EVnetics, I wired past it, borrowed a bolt from Mike W., and wired the car for 96 Volts. Since my controller was now bypassed the motor would spin at a steady 3000 rpm (it's a sepex). The car went 58 mph. I was worried 96 Volts would make the fields very hot, but the motor was merely warm. Next year I plan to have twice the batteries and much higher speeds.

BTW Major I someone involved in the TTGXP series that knew about you -- apologies, I forgot his name!

Everyone made it through the event safely. The only damage to the Killajoule was a schredded landing gear tire (wasn't speed rated) and I burned up maybe $200 of controller parts.


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## major (Apr 4, 2008)

DavidDymaxion said:


> It was a great EVent, I am already excited for going next year.............BTW Major I someone involved in the TTGXP series that knew about you -- apologies, I forgot his name!


Kool  And HI back to that guy whoever he was 

Ya know? The Flats are right here in our back yard. Well a couple thousand miles away for us dorks in Ohio. But just a few days on I-80. And every Sept and Oct, a great bunch of people gather there and let you run what you brung and set records. For EVs of any type, it is wide open. Eva was running in an open class, IIRC. She could have gotten a record had she made 2 legitimate runs. Regardless of the speed. Sounds easy. Right  Build something and do it.

As I have said before, these are the good old days. Get off your butts and into history 

I was out there in 2001 with a 4 wheeler EV. Worked our butts off to go 151. No record, but beat The Ohio State. They came back a few years later and did 300+. Oh well, there are other classes. I was back again in 2009 with a 2 wheeler EV. 166 mph, SCTA, no record, but fun. This year back at the BUB, same bike, did 173+, AMA and FIM records. 

It ain't easy. But worth it just to try. Right David? My hat is off to Bill and Eva and David and any EVer who gives it a go. 

We might just get that yellow bike for another try this season. I think we can muster up a few more hp (kW)  

Regards,

major

Never did find out the reason for the red duct tape and case of eggs


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

major said:


> ... We might just get that yellow bike for another try this season. I think we can muster up a few more hp (kW)  ...


Major, please post up what days the bike will run, some Salt Flats locals would like to watch.



major said:


> ... It ain't easy. But worth it just to try. Right David? My hat is off to Bill and Eva and David and any EVer whose gives it a go. ...


I'll definitely second that it is great fun to run, even if you don't hit ludicrous speed!


You don't have to be fast to be fun
Folks seemed very interested in the electrics, I felt kind of like a rock star doing show-and-tell on my car
It's great motivation to get things done on your car
The USFRA ( http://www.SaltFlats.com ), other racers, and spectators were great -- it was an extremely friendly and helpful crowd
It's a great way to get the EV word out -- racers are a great audience as they already modify cars and have the right mindset to make EV ownership succeed
Even though my car wasn't done, going is a great way to get the tech inspectors familiar with the vehicle -- my tech was much faster on this (my 2nd) Salt Flats visit with the 9Electric
I was filmed for possible inclusion in two documentaries -- another great way to get the EV word out



major said:


> ... Never did find out the reason for the red duct tape and case of eggs


You probably already figured out red was a desirable color for the duct tape as the KillaJoule is red, so it wouldn't be an obvious science project look for the tape job. The eggs were for an obscure technique done by none other than Burt Munroe himself. He had a similar problem with his bike tending to veer to one side, to the point it would tip over onto that side. He found taping an egg to the low side was a psychological trick that fixed the driver tendency -- the driver would want to "avoid breaking the egg."


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## major (Apr 4, 2008)

DavidDymaxion said:


> Major, please post up what days the bike will run, some Salt Flats locals would like to watch.


 
Yeah, David, I'll try. But it seems like I get notice a few hours ahead of time and the airport is 90 miles away.



> You probably already figured out red was a desirable color for the duct tape as the KillaJoule is red, so it wouldn't be an obvious science project look for the tape job. The eggs were for an obscure technique done by none other than Burt Munroe himself. He had a similar problem with his bike tending to veer to one side, to the point it would tip over onto that side. He found taping an egg to the low side was a psychological trick that fixed the driver tendency -- the driver would want to "avoid breaking the egg".


And I thought it was for the post race party  EV racers are a wild and crazy bunch 

major


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

K O posted a video about electrics on the Salt Flats World of Speed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9ntIL_SVw8


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