My girlfriend now has racing fever after drag-racing a 'vette in my Tesla and winning

[zack]

She's made me promise that we'll build an electric dragster that can beat any muscle car we encounter. I figured I could find the most useful up-to-date information about the most powerful motors, best packs, and best trans-axles available today in this part of the forum but there's a lot of older information here. Is anyone up-to-date on the best way to find out how to convert a modern muscle car into an electric racing machine (probably drag-only... we don't really want to die) that's essentially unbeatable? I have a guy who is ready to do the conversion for me if I'll get all of the parts together. I'm trying not to break the bank on this project.

[richkae]

You want to go check out: National Electric Drag Racing Association ( National Electric Drag Racing Association )
They have a mailing list ( old school internet ) that you want to get on and ask for specifics.

The builders of most of the quickest EVs in the world will be found there:
http://www.plasmaboyracing.com/whitezombie.php
KillaCycle - Worlds Quickest Electric Motorcycle
OCC/Lawless Electric Drag Bike Sets 1/4 Record - Motorcycle USA

Black Current III

You will be faster if you can start with a lighter car.
Building a 10 second capable car should be totally doable, especially if you use LiPo.

[dhrivnak]

You may want to check out Jack Rickard at EVTV Motor Verks | Electric Car Conversion Videos. NetGain makes a fine DC motor which will be noticeably cheaper than AC. But be warned a serious drag car will not be inexpensive. The Tesla will also be hard to beat. I raced against many conversions and the Tesla won. A serious drag car can EASLY run $50,000 for a budget racer.

[richkae]

For a long time now I have wondered what it would take to build a replacement pack for the Roadster that was lighter.
Cells exist that could build a 100 to 200 pound pack with the same power output for a short time, but with much less capacity.
I think that could get a Roadster Sport down into the 11.7 second range in the 1/4 mile ( just from plugging weight reduction numbers into various web based 1/4 mile calculators )

[TEG]

Wow, richkae covered most of the bases in record time there.

Here is another link of possible interest as well:
Current Eliminator

[richkae]

Woohoo I beat you TEG!

[TEG]

For a long time now I have wondered what it would take to build a replacement pack for the Roadster that was lighter.
Cells exist that could build a 100 to 200 pound pack with the same power output for a short time, but with much less capacity.
I think that could get a Roadster Sport down into the 11.7 second range in the 1/4 mile ( just from plugging weight reduction numbers into various web based 1/4 mile calculators )

I have a feeling, completely unconfirmed, that the Roadster is a bit of a "matched set" of components that are "hard coded" to talk to each other.
The ESS has a bunch of computers in it to monitor the cells. If you didn't have something speaking "Roadster protocol" to the PEM it might refuse to send power to the motor.
Tesla tends to build as much as they can themselves, and keep it mostly proprietary, so swapping components could be difficult.
I suppose one could build an "ESS simulator" that just kept saying "I am a happy pack" to any other inquisitive devices in the car.

[TEG]

Woohoo I beat you TEG!

You have more track time experience. I think you started to launch on yellow...

[richkae]

I suppose one could build an "ESS simulator" that just kept saying "I am a happy pack" to any other inquisitive devices in the car.

Oh absolutely - this would be the hardest part of the project, learning how to convince the rest of the computers in the car that your replacement battery walked like an ESS and talked like an ESS and served juice like an ESS.

[TEG]

Then you take 500lbs out of the car and find it still performs the same. The firmware saying to itself "all Roadsters accelerate the same."
Might have to be more intrusive to convince it to take advantage of some weight loss...