Wayland Invitational IV Electric Drag Races! - Page 4

TEG · 07-25-2009, 12:02 AM

Well, the Teslas made it to the track and found charging there, but it was a bit of a zoo with vehicles packed in everywhere. People managed to creep around all of the other cars and pedestrians and make it out on the strip racing against a lot of 'souped up' gas cars and all sort of home made EV drag cars including Wayland's 'White Zombie', the 'Amped' Pinto, SSI vehicle, Upgraded Tango, and 'Killacycle'.

Here were some roadsters getting to the track early before the crowds started to show up:

James was very generous and let me take a couple of runs down the strip in his brand new Roadster (!).
I think I got a fairly respectable time with a 12.951s 1/4 mile at 100.24MPH.

TEG · 07-25-2009, 12:16 AM

Hooking into the big power feed:

Breakout box with multiple NEMA14-50 for multi-roadster charging:

John "TeslaBoy" Wayland (note the hat!):

edit - later on, John with more Tesla attire:

TEG · 07-25-2009, 12:28 AM

Staging for a Tesla/Tesla race:

Slotting in between some muscle cars:

James · 07-25-2009, 01:41 AM

We were at the drag stip from 6 pm till midnight on Friday. I have about 300+ photos and a ton of video of Tesla vs Tesla, Tesla vs Tango, Tesla vs some custom EV dragsters, Tesla vs gas muscle cars, etc.

The Tesla Roadsters were all running with about a 50% charge most of the evening because of our drive down from Seattle to Portland (190 miles) Friday morning. We had about 4 hours of recharging (during the afternoon) on 240 volts and 30 amps. But that only got most of us to a bit over 50%. Then we had a drive to make to the track at 5 pm. Charging was available at the track, between runs, so my battery was getting filled over the course of the evening.

The Roadster Sport had the best time at 12.95 on the 1/4 mile. Most of the other Teslas were doing consistently 13.1 to 13.3 runs. Everyone broke 100+ mph at the end of the run.

All of the Tesla Roadsters are charging overnight now and will be fully charged for Saturday nights races. Killacycle will be running full strength. The Discovery Channel is here to film everything on Saturday.

Tdave · 07-25-2009, 05:38 AM

Wow, that looks like a LOT of fun. I can't wait to do that myself in my car at the Power of DC event at the end of August. But...

Umm, 12.95? That's it?

Edit: I say that because of this:
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog4/?p=69

which is by a 2008 non-Sport Roadster. So what accounts for the difference? The 50% charge level? Were you in Performance mode? (Would that even make a difference?)

TEG · 07-25-2009, 08:07 AM

Yes, I think we were all hoping for at least a few tenths better... But, keep in mind that I got into the "100MPH club" and under 13s on my second run down the drag strip ever. Basically with no training... Just wait for the green light and step on it.

I suspect the Infineon run you mentioned had a few tricks up their sleeves that got them better times including:

#1: A lighter weight driver. (No "ringers" here last night)
#2: A more experienced driver.
#3: Running on a full performance charge.
#4: A few tricks such as loading up the motor with the right foot while holding the brake pedal with the left foot for a stronger launch. (I think people are a little afraid they might damage something trying that here, so we have been doing one foot launches).
#5: (?possibly?) Tesla might have done some sort of factory tweaks on the car they ran before.

The thing that amazes me is how reliable, consistent and easy to work these Roadsters are in all sorts of situations. Basically everyone who brought a car was doing at least mid 13s on every run without real training or practice. I saw many other cars (both EV and gas) drop out after a few runs due to something breaking.
The same thing was true at Laguna Seca last weekend - people were "thrashing" their Roadsters and absolutely nothing broke on anything I saw.

There is another day at the Portland drags today, so the numbers might get better. Like James said, cars should be running on more full charge today which could help, and also people had a chance to get familiar and comfortable with the whole process yesterday.

vfx · 07-25-2009, 08:49 AM

There are a lot of tire tricks too.

By the way, both outings look real fun.

qwk · 07-25-2009, 10:49 AM

What were the 60' times, if you don't mind me asking?

TEG · 07-26-2009, 12:31 AM

The times improved today as people got a chance to improve their launch technique and run with more full charge. The 2008 models were getting lots of 13.0#s times, and James got a bunch of 12.8#s runs on his 2010 sport. I think one of the 2008s finally got a sub 13s time at one point during the day. Now the fun part - James let the Killacycle rider take his car out for two runs and he managed a 12.643 followed by a 12.715... I think they registered this as some sort of NEDRA SP/A3 class record.

TEG · 07-26-2009, 01:19 AM

There were a lot of cameras in the group taking 100s of pictures and videos.
After I get back from the trip I will try to put together some videos to embed here.

Here is a picture of a Roadster waiting behind "Killacycle":

Killacycle was doing "only" about 8.5s in the 1/4 mile because it wasn't shifting properly.

John Wayland took out his "White Zombie" car for some 12.4s quarter miles showing that he is still able to (barely) outrun the Teslas with a car designed specifically for this type of event.

A Tango with a 'souped up' battery pack (original pack plus a new LiIon booster pack) was able to get in "Tesla Territory" with many runs just under 13s.

(Keep in mind that none of the above were stock production cars like the Tesla Roadsters)