Those Muscle Cars On the Drag Strip Are Really Electric

[bananas]

Source: Wall Street Journal

PAGE ONE

Those Muscle Cars On the Drag Strip Are Really Electric
Clunker Run on Batteries Trounces Latest 'Gassers';
John Wayland's Close Call

By JOHN J. FIALKA
August 1, 2007; Page A1

PORTLAND, Ore. -- On a recent Friday night at the Portland International Raceway, John Wayland scanned the dragsters, looking for an opponent for his geeky looking 1972 Datsun sedan. Finally, he challenged the owner of a souped-up 2005 Corvette, the hottest-looking car at the track, to a quarter-mile race.

<embedded video> See how an electric car dubbed the White Zombie is leaving conventional muscle cars in the dust.

When the starting light flashed, the Datsun, known as White Zombie, shot silently past the Corvette and kept widening the lead as the two cars faded into the distance. "Oh man, right off the line he had me," said the Corvette's owner, Robert Akers, shaking his head.

Electric cars are typically known for their fuel efficiency and environmental bona fides, not for their speed and muscle. But Mr. Wayland, 47 years old, is changing that, and has become something of a hero to a small group of hot rodders dedicated to humiliating gasoline-powered cars. The night White Zombie beat the Corvette, it also trounced two other "gassers," as Mr. Wayland calls them -- a blue BMW and a bright orange 1964 Pontiac Tempest.

The electric-car racers, who go by nicknames like "Father Time" and "Electric Louis," hope to jump-start public interest in electric vehicles. "Getting electric cars going in the U.S. has been like shoveling sand into a tsunami," says Roderick Wilde, who sometimes races here in his electric-powered Mazda.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118593442187584293.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

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I wasn't sure if this was fit for LBN,
but maybe the real news is that it was on the front page of the WSJ.
Subscription not required to read the article.

[ShockediSay]

1. The patents for super efficient batteries for these cars were held

by General Motors, who sold them cheap to Texaco; Texaco (merged into ?) has done nothing with them but sit on them preventing their use, as I recall from a story on NPR

PS Guess we won't be getting many more of this kind of story from the new Murdoch Mouthpiece WSJ

[BrotherBuzz]

2. The car uses 36 12-volt storage batteries (lead acid)

These batteries are found on the shelf of any auto parts store in the USA.

Unlike gasoline engines, which take a few moments to build up turning power, or torque, for the rear wheels, electric motors deliver it instantly. The sharp jolt of power was a problem for Mr. Wayland in his first few races. "I hit it and it was on full power," he says. "You just held on." He has since installed a controller, a kind of giant dimmer switch that phases in the battery power more gradually.

[Cobalt-60]

4. They should try a vast capacitor or maybe a coil

They could charge it until seconds before "ignition".

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. From the description, I thought it was a 510.

The picture, however, shows that it is a 1200 - LB110.

I have my April 1978 NADA yellow book at my side tonight.

[The Doctor.]

8. Who doesn't?

:)

This is very cool. The question then is 'how many miles per charge' at those rates of acceleration?

[BadGimp]

5. Darnit! @*$&& #()!@

I just bought an 06 Z51 Vette and upgraded the exhaust and installed a Programmer to boost the horsepower to 445.

But I'll bet the new white shifter knob I installed that that little Zombie could kick my ASS!

Color me foolish.

But the good news is I have a 2006 Red Corvette to tool up and down PCH in S Cal :)

[tridim]

6. I'm thinking about converting my Fiat Spider to electric

But I need a place with a garage first.

It's probably a good idea to wait awhile as battery technology progresses.

[cobalt1999]

7. Electrics have always been known for incredible consistent torque.

It's no surprise they are good in a short drag race. Train engines are really electric motor driven with diesel engines generating the electricity....tons of torque! It's distance races they can't compete (at least currently).

[Vincardog]

9. Are you saying trains can not compete in long distance racing?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:think: RU :crazy:or just :silly:?

[cobalt1999]

10. well, if you ran a train on batteries only

to generate the electricity, I doubt you're going to go very far! :)

[Vincardog]

14. Most trains do run on batteries only. The Engine is only there to charge the batteries.

They do run very far. Batteries do not generate electricity.

[oldhippie]

15. Actually, no they don't.....................

Most long distance trains are pulled by diesel-electric locomotives. The diesel engine(s) drive an alternator which (through power control electroncs) provides electricity to the electric traction motors. Yes, there are some batteries in the locomotive, but they are there to start the diesel and to power the electronics. The batteries do not provide power to the traction motors, nor do the alternators charge them other to replace the charge needed to start the diesel and run the electronics. The power produced by regenerative braking goes to a resistance grid rather than to the batteries.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/diesel-locomotive6.htm


Granted, there are some few applications being developed for a diesel electric system with batteries that you describe, but they are very few. There was a recent post about one in Japan. They would be good within cities where the pollution from the diesel could be shut off and the batteries get the train a short distance into a yard, or where it could pick up power from the rails or overhead.

[flvegan]

11. 11.9 second 1/4 mile

That's deep, deep into expensive competition at that number. That'll beat anything from America (Z06 Vette, Viper, Ford GT). Okay, maybe the Ford might win that one...barely.

[CRF450]

18. Actually...

The new Z06 Vettes normally do mid 11's and will easily go well into the 10's in a 1/4 mile with drag radials. Cars with that kind of performance cost from $85,000 to several hundred thousand dollars, while the Vette is 75 grand! The Ford GT runs similar numbers while the Viper lagged behind the two.

[Bread and Circus]

24. The bigger point is that this guy made this thing w/ his 2 hands vs.

the other cars you are talking about (the gassers) that take millions of dollars in engineering and testing.

For this guy to be on the same playing field is fairly amazing.

[lumberjack_jeff]

25. 11.466 @ 114 mph

With lithium ion batteries.
http://www.plasmaboyracing.com/reviews.php#2007s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3THUk5_jEw

But that's nothin. Check out Killacycle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWPwjw3hjZs

8.22 @ 156mph
:wow:

[elvisbear]

12. Here's a video of John Wayland describing his electric motor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PRkpn2xmjc

[Uncle Joe]

13. This is promising.

:thumbsup:

Thanks for the thread bananas.

[byronius]

16. Great post.

Can't wait for the Tesla Roadster to drop below 50 thousand.

[Blue_Tires]

17. ttt

thanks for posting this

[CRF450]

19. This is really cool!

Being a performance nut, I have an 01 Trans Am. After I pay off my Dakota I'm planning on a twin turbo build for it. My goal is 750hp on pump gas. If done right, it'll get the same (if not better) average 23mpg and up to 30+mpg I got on the interstates.

[Kolesar]

20. Well today I'm gonna be picking up my Hemi Roadrunner that's right I said Hemi

[CRF450]

21. Those are worth alot, arent they?

[Kolesar]

22. A Hemi. Balls to the Wall.

I'm copying movie lines. My favorite Skynyrd fan: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245686/quotes

[CRF450]

23. Oh, hahaha. I feel that hemi's are over-rated though.

And the cars they're in are really heavy. The LSx line of engines GM made are light weight all aluminum motors that are top end monsters!