Welcome aboard Henry
Henry Deaton wrote:
> 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.
>
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
> 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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