Great day at the races

["BillDube@killacycle.com" <BillDube@killacycle.com>]

	We had a great day at the races yesterday, all told. The KillaCycle will 
be competing in the "Pro Bike" class this season in the Penzoil ET series 
at Bandimere Speedway here in Denver. Yesterday was the season opener. The 
Pro Bike class is the top class for motorcycles in the NHRA. The KillaCycle 
blends right in with this crowd in terms of performance. It is slower than 
some, but faster than most.

	I was a bit disappointed that Kerry Hogan, the "A" driver for the 
KillaCycle, was out of town and not able to make this race. We put the 
alternate driver Dan Werner on the bike for the first time. Dan is a great 
driver, but he doesn't have the experience on the KillaCycle that Kerry 
does. Thus, I had to put the KillaCycle in "whimp" mode for the first 
dial-in run so that Dan could get the feel of the machine before we turned 
it up to "normal" mode. I had to make sure that Dan was launching straight 
and under 100% control at reduced power. At full power, small errors during 
the launch can multiply quickly into big errors, a wrecked bike, and an 
injured driver.

	Dan did just fine and it makes me happy that we now have two 
fully-qualified drivers for the KillaCycle. However, this "training" run 
left us just two runs to do the actual dial-in for the bike, but things 
worked out pretty well. The KillaCycle does not have a delay box (yet) so 
Dan had to cut the lights the old fashioned way, by hand. (For those that 
are unfamiliar, a significant part of the competition lies in the ability 
to cross the starting line at precisely the right moment, but not a 
thousandth of a second too early. A perfect starting "light" in bracket 
racing is 0.500. Less than 0.500 is a disqualifying "red light". More gives 
your opponent a head start.) We made it though the first round 
successfully, but on the second round the luck of the draw put us up 
against last season's champ. Dan cut a 0.520 light and had a great run down 
the strip. It was a bit TOO great as the batteries were warmer than in 
previous rounds and the head wind was gone. I selected a 10.85 dial-in and 
we ran a 10.841.  (The goal is to select a "dial-in" time that is less 
than, or equal to, the time the vehicle will take to complete the 1/4 mile 
distance. If the vehicle takes less time, the other person wins 
automatically.) This eliminated us from the competition and put us on the 
trailer.

	It was a lucky thing, however. It had been threatening to rain all day 
with light sprinkles. The rain started in earnest just after I had left the 
track. The bike runs on 304 volts and does NOT like getting wet. I was very 
glad to have the KillaCycle safely tucked away in the garage when the sky 
opened up. Had we gone to the next round of competition, we would have 
garnered more points, but the bike might have been damaged by the rain.

	The only trouble I had all day was a bridge rectifier in the charger. In 
the middle of the third re-charge, the rectifier suddenly exploded. It 
sounded like a pistol shot. On a drag strip, noises like this are 
commonplace, so no one paid much attention. :^D I really don't know why the 
rectifier failed as it was rated for 35 amps at 800 volts. This is about 
twice what I was running through it. I carry a back-up charger so I was 
able to make it through the remaining rounds without a lot of trouble.

	I should mention that the other competitors pay attention to your 
performance on the track. Winning the first round and very nearly missing a 
win against the top competitor did not go unnoticed. If the KillaCycle 
continues to perform as well, at some time during the season I expect to 
hear the historic words we have all been waiting for; "I don't want to race 
HER. She's driving an electric!"

	

 >>>>> Dial-In Delema <<<<<<<<<<<

I have almost complete control in how I want the KillaCycle to run down the 
strip. I'm having trouble choosing the best compromise between quick and 
consistent. The slower I make it run, the more consistent it is. However, 
it's important to me to show folks the performance that electrics are 
capable of. This last race, I picked a HP that would give me an ET of 10.9 
seconds, that the bike will run to within about +/- 0.05 seconds, if you 
don't include the effect of changing wind.

If I boost the HP, the ET's become more erratic, but we get to leave the 
line last. If I lower the HP, the bike looks whimpy and we leave the line 
first. Any suggestions?









				Bill Dube'
				BillDube@killacycle.com