# EV bracket car



## piotrsko (Dec 9, 2007)

not sure you need to spend more than 20 grand even using newly bought parts. May not be 6.40, but back in my day at Lyons there was this chick in a toyota pickup slushbox that ran 15.05 to 15.30 in her bracket all day long. Nothing funnier that having her line up against a 9 second street 'Cuda and winning that race because the 'Cuda blew his time. Worked thusly: lane 2 green. wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, lane 1 green. OOH bad launch.

I honestly don't know what it would take to get lower than 9 right now. John Metric is getting perhaps 1200 hp but appears to not hook up and is breaking parts. his 1/8's are pretty fast. the problem seems to be the instantaneous monster torque at launch and this HUGE relearning curve. go over to that subforum and look at his link.

JMHO YMMV BTW I do 1/4's


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## racinjason (Nov 23, 2013)

I may be mechanically inclined, but an electrician I am not. after reading about this in depth for several hours.......... holy F this is way above my pay grade.


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## major (Apr 4, 2008)

racinjason said:


> I may be mechanically inclined, but an electrician I am not. after reading about this in depth for several hours.......... holy F this is way above my pay grade.


You might consider teaming up with someone in your area. Fast racers are seldom a solo effort; gas or electric. Actually the fastest and quickest EVs in the world have been built in Ohio or by guys from Ohio


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## CrazyAl (May 9, 2011)

racinjason said:


> I may be mechanically inclined, but an electrician I am not. after reading about this in depth for several hours.......... holy F this is way above my pay grade.


Check out http://nedra.com which is the National Electric Drag Racing Association


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## toddshotrods (Feb 10, 2009)

racinjason said:


> I may be mechanically inclined, but an electrician I am not. after reading about this in depth for several hours.......... holy F this is way above my pay grade.


Don't sell yourself short. While knowledge is always a good thing, you don't have to be an electrical engineer to accomplish your goal. The parts are available, mostly off-the-shelf, and the trail has been blazed, so you can use the knowledge and experience gained, and usually freely shared, by others to leap frog the curve.




major said:


> You might consider teaming up with someone in your area. Fast racers are seldom a solo effort; gas or electric. Actually the fastest and quickest EVs in the world have been built in Ohio or by guys from Ohio


What the wise man said^^^ Where are you in Ohio?




racinjason said:


> ...I know I wont get back to the gas level of performance without spending 50grand.


The most important fact you left out is what type of budget you are kicking around?

If possible, it would be nice to see you at least develop a car that runs respectable 1/8th mile numbers. We gave credit to those slow bracket racers who could consistently creep up on the back bumper of the fast guys, and make them break out, but we also snickered at how long it took them to get there. For perspective on that (for non-drag-racers) watch some videos of Top Fueler and Funny Cars, then watch a quick Sportsman car (say mid 8s) - it's like they're never going to get there (but they're actually really quick cars). That's on the extreme end (purposely) but it demonstrates how your mind perceives a "slow" car in the midst of fast cars.

EVs are finally gaining momentum in overcoming the perception of being slow, boring, grocery-getters. You have to accomplish your own goals first, but if you can simultaneously lend a hand to that effort... The good thing is you're developing an 1/8-mile car, which plays into the inherent strength of the cheapest route - series DC's stump-pulling, but RPM-limited, torque.


John Metric is the President of NEDRA. He has a lot of extra stuff to enable quick/fast 1/4-mile times, but you want follow his basic prescription, simplified for half the distance - it's the classic electric drag race setup; series-DC motor(s), high power controller, lots of battery.

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/electric-cars-redefine-future-of-drag-racing/

His build thread here. He's doing low-6/high-5 eighth-miles. IIRC, stock-ish musclecar guys are happy with low-8s, so maybe aim for that range without the Lenco's and high-end battery pack the fastest EV guys are using to get in the 9's in a 1/4? Larger series-DC motors run out of steam around 5000 rpm, and a lot of the money they spend is trying to overcome that limitation (with battery packs that can push HUGE amounts of current to allow more torque/less (rear-end) gear, for higher top end, and/or racing transmissions to extend top end).

If none of that makes sense just say "what?!", and it can be broken down simpler, and links provided to more basic info. Didn't want to spoon-feed you if already have your baby teeth.


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## Dustin_mud (May 22, 2012)

I too been looking into building a fox body, I have a thread over in the preformance area(http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/warp11-hv-75320.html) there's lots of great info from these guys.


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## Dustin_mud (May 22, 2012)

I beleave you can get back there with a single motor and the right battery pack. That's going to be your biggest cost is the pack, and I would go with so glass doors and anything to drop a few more pounds.


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## McRat (Jul 10, 2012)

Thoughts:

Brackets can take 8 passes (2-3 dialin, 32 car field, 1 error), but you should assume 10. Unless you have multiple batteries, or really fast chargers, for 300kW (400HP), assuming you can keep raceweight at 3200lb, and 7 second 1/8th ET's are OK:

Assuming 30% losses, you need about 400kW for 8 seconds x 10 passes. Or 80 seconds. 

OK, we know a Chevy Volt battery will discharge at 205HP horsepower for many years. So 2 Volt batteries. Estimated weight at this time is 600lb with watercooling for 2 batteries. They hold 10 kWh (with safety margin, actual is 16kWh). This assumes that you can push the batteries a little higher than OEM warranty specs for short duration under watercooling.

80 seconds is 0.022 hours x 400kW is 9 kWh.

Voila, you can use 2 Volt packs, and they should last many seasons without damage. Warranty is 8 years and 100,000 miles on them.

DOH!! You could use 1 Volt pack?? Then have a spare.

You will buy Volt packs from wrecks. I just got one for $2100 shipped.

Now you need a brush style DC motor that will push 400kW for burst power that will survive a season and a 400kW controller.

Or is my math wrong?


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## McRat (Jul 10, 2012)

It appears a Shiva High Voltage 2000 amp is the cheapest I can find at $4000.

I'm only looking for controllers that will hit 400kW without pushing them.


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