Re:Marshall and the Naysayers

[MHoustonx@aol.com]

Honestly, I do love Electric Vehicles, anyone who feels I hate electric 
vehicles is in error.

Bandemere Results May 22  John Wayland - "White Zombie" 336MC/A 
1/4 mile 16.951 secs @ 73.67mph

While others indeed have made at least incremental improvements, is THIS 
really progress?

Over one year later......I rest my case.

Best Regards,
Marshall Houston
Portland, Oregon

<
To: Multiple recipients of list EV EV@SJSUVM1.SJSU.EDU
Subject: Marshall and the Naysayers
From: John Wayland dat1200@EUROPA.COM 
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 11:03:10 +0100 •Reply-To: Electric Vehicle 
Discussion List EV@SJSUVM1.SJSU.EDU
Sender: Electric Vehicle Discussion List EV@SJSUVM1.SJSU.EDU 

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Hello to All,
        Shock of all shocks, last week, Marshall Houston returned to the
EVDL after a hiatus of more than a year....welcome back, buddy!
Unfortunately, his post was filled with negativity about the results of
the White Zombie s runs at the Phoenix  Saturday Night Electric Desert
Drags .
      While I appreciate the point that Marshall was trying to make,
five or six examples of ICE cars that run in the 15 s would have
sufficed....fifteen examples was more like someone trying to rub salt in
a wound, rather than serious information. Also, I find it interesting,
that the $20,000 plus price tag for everyone of these cars, wasn t even
mentioned. These are vehicles that have the very best modern ICE
technology poured into them, and they should be able to run in the 15 s.
     In Marshall s argument/discussion with the naysayer ICE guys, there
were so many points that could and should have been made, that perhaps
were not.
      I would have pointed out just how young this whole EV drag racing
thing is. I would have talked about being the new pioneers at the track.
I would have pointed out all the tons of money and time that has been
poured into ICE technology, and the minimal amount that has been
invested in EV drag racing, too. I would have told them, how when Dennis
Berube  first started with his electric rail, that he turned a 12.6
second run, and that it took several years and more than 2000 passes to
perfect his machine to run his most recent, blistering 10.88 second
run.
     I must admit, that like Marshall and his friends at work, I too,
was disappointed in my 1/4 mile times in the 15 s, but this is still
about a 1.5 second improvement over my best time. In the world of 1/4
mile drags, that is a HUGE improvement, and it should be something to be
proud of, not ashamed of as Marshall indicates he was.
      The nighttime temp that Saturday in Phoenix, was a c-c-cold 42
degrees! Is it any wonder the track wasn t sticky, and I, among others,
had severe traction problems? Did Marshall tell his friends of this?
      As many who were there will attest, the White Zombie was spinning
its 9  wide drag slicks, even at speeds of around 60 mph....did Marshall
tell his friends of this? Did he tell them, that on my first run, the
car went sideways in 3rd gear with the tires smoking, and that I had to
let off of the throttle, straighten the car out, then step back down on
the throttle? To turn a 15.77 second run under those circumstances is
pretty good, I d say! How much quicker would the run have been, if there
was little wheel spin, and I didn t have to let go of the throttle?
      Jim Ludicker, an experienced drag racer of ICE machines, saw my
first run, and commented that with the traction problems, solved, that
my runs would have been in the low 14 s or even high 13 s....did
Marshall tell his friends of this?
        Also, due to our unfortunate fire and meltdown days before the
races, we ran out of time to prepare both a fast charger for my car, as
well as one for Bruce s motorcycle. This forced us to share a wimpy 11
amp charger between us, and as such, the Zombie never ran another run
with a strong, fully-charged  battery pack.
    The Zombie s first run against Marvin Rush (what a nice guy) and the
EV1 was with a tired battery pack, and on the second run against Marvin,
I braked and shut down to prevent any cell reversals, as the pack had
sagged way down.
    I don t consider all of this as a negative, because I am learning
valuable lessons from my racing failures. It s funny, how different this
electric drag racing thing is...I love it!
      In its present state, the Zombie is way too low geared with its
4:88 ratio. These high ratio gears were the hot ticket and were ideal
for the car, when it had a high revving, multi-carbed, built-up four
banger. This was a small displacement ICE that made its torque and
horsepower way up in the rpm scale, and had virtually nothing down low.
   Now, as an electric performance machine, everything is different, and
for the high torque electric motor, this ratio is just wasted effort.
The high ratio makes it necessary for me to use 2nd gear for the hole
launch, as using 1st gear just sets the tires ablaze and the car doesn t
move. This gear set also presents problems at the other end, too, as the
motor is into very high revs before the end of my runs, and doing so for
no good reason. With the 4:88 gears, the Zombie is loosing acceleration
at the run s end, instead of pulling hard all the way to the finish.
      The car definitely needs the opposite type of gear ratio,
something much taller, such as a 2:70 or similar. If a ratio this  tall
was used with the old gas motor, the car would have been a total slug
off the line. But as an electric drag car, a 2:70 ratio would improve
everything. First gear would be usable again, hopefully being a little
taller than how 2nd is now with the 4:88 rear gears, but a little
shorter than how 3rd is presently. The tall 1st gear ratio, with my new
set of 15  wide drag slicks (thanks Dennis Berube ), should make for a
terrific hole shot!  The 2:70 ratio gear set would also make it so that
4th gear would be a very tall ratio, and without having to shift up to
5th, the car would be pulling hard as it crossed the finish line at
medium revs, instead of revving too high in 5th as it does right now.
   At these higher revs, the Godzilla/Hawker/Kostov combination was
producing around 140 horsepower or so, and that's about the weakest
amount of power that was seen, with horsepower peaks estimated to be
around 200-230 at the lower revs where dramatically higher currents were
being drawn....this explains why I was going sideways in third gear with
the twin 9" slicks smoking, and why the tires were slipping in 4th.
       This potent power level also  helped to snap off one of my rear
axles, too! After that first run, when the batteries were fully charged,
there was a lot of noise coming from the rear end, and only one tire
would spin.
    To Marshall and his naysayer buddies at work, here s my comments to
all of you:
      No traction, no charge, and a broken axle.....this wasn t a good
prescription for the best 1/4 times, that s for sure! But considering
the events prior to race night, I feel it was a minor miracle that we
even made it to the track! Even still, that s racing, and I only have
myself to blame.
      However, there will be plenty more opportunities to get it right.
With a taller ratio rear end, huge 15  wide drag slicks, both axles
turning, and a little more tweaking, the car should be much quicker
through the quarter mile. I plan on doing a lot of practice runs at both
the Portland International Raceway and at the Woodburn track, and I am
looking forward to dicing it out with the ICE muscle cars.  I ll get the
car into the 13 s by this Summer, and I invite Marshall and the
naysayers to come and watch....I hope that Marshall s friends will offer
support, instead of ridicule!

See Ya.............John  Plasma Boy  Wayland

Marshall and the Naysayers