# [EVDL] 'Street Warriorz' ... White Zombie vs Z06 Vette at PIR!



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Hello to All,

Well..... they can't all by stellar nights :-( Last Saturday night's 
racing at the 'Street Warriorz' EVent didn't produce an 11-anything, we 
got beat two out of our four runs, and the worst part... we ended the 
night barely losing in one of those two lost runs to a Z06 Vette in 
front of a packed crowd! More details on what went down on this 
super-hyped (by the EVent promoters) showdown between White Zombie and 
the limited production 505 hp 'super car' red Z06 Vette will follow, so 
keep reading.

The race day's weather turned out fairly well in spite of the forecasted 
possible rain showers with a steep cool-down from the mid 80s 
temperatures we'd been having the few days previous. As reported, 
longtime friend, team Plasma Boy Racing member, and overall nut case 
Rich 'Madman' Rudman' came down from Kingston, Washington in his 
recently acquired and Manzanita Micro modified plug-in Prius. The plan 
was to use the Prius as a rolling charger for White Zombie. I had written:

...will rely on Manzanita Micro's rolling power supply to do all the Zombie recharging 
tonight! As a back-up, Tim will take his pickup with the NEDRA breaker 
panel/ mains supply tapping device in the bed...just in case  

The idea was sound for two reasons...the first, is that it's just plain 
cool, and the second, is that Tim, Rich, and I all figured that this 
nationally syndicated touring car show would have all sorts of 
tractor-trailer rigs, stage setups, etc. all over what is normally 'our' 
charging area at PIR, so being independent from the track's heavy 
hitting power grid station would be a plus on this night.

The radical charging setup from 
grid-to-Prius-to-gas-to-battery-to-Zombie was tested at the Wayland EV 
Juice Bar first before we trekked on down to PIR. In what what Tim and I 
fully enjoyed as a major Rudman embarrassment moment, the specific PFC 
DC-DC charger he had tested at his shop before leaving for Portland, was 
now DOA! Rudman guessed he had forgotten to flip a few internal breakers 
before reinstalling the charger case over the internals, but we had run 
short on time to do any charger-endectomy at my place
as it was getting late at around 3:45 in the afternoon and I had wanted 
to be in line at the gates by 3:30 so we could get in as much track time 
as possible. We then left later than I had hoped for as a three vehicle 
caravan... Rudman in his Prius, Tim in his Dodge pickup with our backup 
grid power distribution setup, and I in White Zombie.

WZ had not been driven for a few days, so its pack needed a bit of 
waking up - just what driving it to the track usually does. We arrived 
to the gates at around 4:45 pm, and the Zombie's 360V (nominal) Enersys 
lead acid pack looked good and was still hanging at 374V static as I 
pulled into the PIR complex. That's about 12.5V per battery after a 16 
mile run that included a couple of throttle stabs and 1000+ amp 
acceleration rushes due to some dude in front of me in a hotrodded late 
60s Plymouth Valiant street machine. He was out enjoying his car, and 
was also, I think, trying to impress me with his car's performance.

I had picked up the Valiant when I was cruising north on 122nd on our 
way toward Marine Drive. It was painted the period gold color, it was 
really straight and clean, and its back end was stuffed with fat rear 
tires and sporting twin exhaust outlets. Instead of a big block growl 
however, it's twin pipes sung a six cylinder tune that definitely 
sounded muscular! Cool! Going against the same old V8 theme, this guy 
had evidently built up a Mopar slant six! He turned west onto Marine 
Drive as I followed right behind him. He stood on it and pulled away 
impressively! I eased down on the amp pedal and easily caught up to him. 
As we had noted just three days prior at the Wednesday night 1/8 mile 
drags, the return to the 4:11 gear set has brought back the car's low 
speed punch it lost with the 3:70 gear set (left over from the light 
weight lithium version of the car) as used in this heavier lead acid 
with roll cage version of the car. Moments before his second burst of 
speed, I clearly saw his passenger turn around and look back at me while 
at the same time I saw the driver checking out the little white Datsun 
from hell in his rear view mirror, so I knew he was about to show off a 
bit again...I was ready to taunt him  The slant six barked the rear 
tires as the Valiant jumped and rapidly accelerated. I allowed the 
Valiant pull ahead a bit and I then kept WZ accelerating at about the 
same rate as the Valiant...then when I knew they were watching, I leaned 
hard on the amp pedal, shot ahead with a sudden rush of speed, and 
appeared to be ready to push them off the dike. Of course, I was just 
playing around with these guys and I let off the throttle just in time, 
braked hard, then fell back to a more sane and safe distance behind them 
once more...all the while poor Rich was trying to stay with us in the 
Prius. There was no doubt the Valiant guys both knew that whatever was 
under the Datsun's hood, it was WAY more than they had expected! The 
point was made, I'm sure  

For the next 7 or 8 miles I drove the speed limit and followed the 
Valiant that I was certain, was also on its way to the street drags at 
PIR. As I slowed to take the exit off Marine Drive to snake my way 
through side streets over to the track though, the guys in the Valiant 
kept going west on Marine Drive up and over the I-5 freeway overpass and 
out of sight...hmmmm. Was I wrong, or were they still headed to the 
track but in from an unknown-to-me west side entrance? Maybe 4 minutes 
later as I turned onto the track entrance road, here came the Valiant 
with its two occupants staring once again at WZ. I did a turn-around as 
instructed by the track person positioning all the vehicles trying to 
get into the show and ended up...you guessed it, right behind the 
Valiant! I'm sure they were thinking, "Geesh, we can't shake that 
Datsun!" I didn't get a chance to talk with them, as the line we were in 
was starting to inch forward, and I never saw the car again 
afterwards...oh well, it was a fun encounter. I now know too, that 
there's a west side of the I-5 freeway road that leads to PIR, a good 
thing to know for the future if there's a gridlock thing near the east 
side of the freeway some day.



> I wrote:
> 
> >White Zombie will be entered in tonight's 'Street Warriorz' street legal only
> >races. This is a BIG EVent that should have a large crowd in attendance.
> ...


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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Congratulations John and the White Zombie Racing Team on a great 
night at the track. You are obviously bending a few opinions our there.

We are really happy with the way our new brush timing advance system 
is working (and saving our motors). You are welcome to copy what we 
have done. I'll even send you the CAD files! Aside from the machining 
(thanks Derek) it is not terribly difficult to implement.

I know that you love the sight, sound, and smell of plasma, but motor 
fireworks can get expensive. ;-)

Here is a link to some pictures of our set-up:
http://www.killacycle.com/photos/motor-details/page/2/

Bill Dube'

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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

-----Original Message-----
From: John Wayland <[email protected]>
To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List <[email protected]>
Sent: Mon, 3 Sep 2007 2:13 pm
Subject: [EVDL] 'Street Warriorz' ... White Zombie vs Z06 Vette at PIR!

Hello to All,

Well..... they can't all by stellar nights :-( ...



Snip, Snip...

Thanks John! Wow, Thanks for such a detailed account. It's like reading 
a riveting novel, except it's all real!
After reading your post, however, I would have to disagree... I think 
it was a very stellar night! 

All of this is really major history: NEDRA at PIR is much like the 
Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, except the Wayland documentation is a 
much easier read.


I do suggest doing something about that reverse thing though. If 
nothing else, just turn the reverse motor amp limit way down. May have 
a weak reverse, but, at least you get to keep a healthy motor!

Ken

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