>Will the 'Lectrics Revolutionize Drag Racing? - By Mike Doherty [Drag >Racing Magazine | April 1967] >The five-second quarter-mile run is a certainty if racers are quick to discard >the blown fuelers! That's right - the sharpies will be riding full-size "slot >cars" before long. No noise, no smoke.
>Electric dragsters boast so many advantages over the conventional Chrysler >type that the top innovators among us will soon lead the field in Top >Eliminator competition. >Electric rails will have perfect distribution (so no wheelies), will not smoke >the tires, will not captivate the crowds with deafening evidence of power. But >the clocks will prove the fuelers obsolete as the "lectrics zzzzzzzip to >five-second times. >A pipedream you say? The Big Three automakers are investing millions on the >premise that electrics are the answer. The U. S. Government is working on >legislation supporting electrics. California Department of Public Health >officer Frank Stead has declared, "It is clearly evident that between now and >1980 the gasoline-powered engine must be phased out and replaced with an >electric power package..." >Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler, as well as a dozen storage battery firms >both here and abroad, have been developing electric systems to power >automobiles since the 1950s. Yet electric research was just that - research - >until recently when a combination of increasing smog problems and governmental >control of the industry put new spirit into the competition. The lids are now >off the factory electric car development budgets, and enthusiastic response to >the debut of the first prototypes has supplied encouragement. Ford was the first among manufacturers to announce the development of a feasible electric battery power system, followed closely by General Motors' revelation of its Electrovair II. Both firms have operating prototypes on their test grounds, and are racing for refinement to a salable state. Chrysler is studying electrics, and a number of auto suppliers such as the Electric Storage Battery Co., Westinghouse, and General Electric are in various stages of project completion. According to industry estimates the first mass-produced electrics will be available within three years if the competition continues. The entire project was given a shot in the arm on August 30, 1966, when Senator Warren Magnuson introduced a bill (S. 3785) in Congress known as the "Electric Vehicle Development Act of 1966." Its purpose is to "encourage the development of electrically powered vehicles capable of performing public and private tasks in a practical manner." Its importance to the makers is brought out by provisions that the Secretary of Commerce report directly to the President and the Congress on the progress made with an annual appropriation of $2 million! Electrics were quite the item in the early 1900s, and had so much promise when compared with the early gasoline engine cars that in 1905 inventor Thomas Edison projected to manufacturer Walter Baker, "If you continue to produce your present quality of electric automobile, and I my present battery, the gas buggy industry won't stand a chance." They cut a path in racing circles even then. As early as 1899 an electric car held the World Land Speed Record of 69 mph. The Baker Torpedo of '05 was one of the first cars to top 100 mph. But the problems of limited range and great weight were even too much for the 1913 combination of Edison and his former employee, Henry Ford. Their electric Model T project never reached the showrooms. The gasoline principle's triumph took on a final air when the commercial production of electrics ceased in the late '30s. Generally, electric vehicles were considered slow until space-age technology made exotic new power sources available. The range of the scientists' efforts provides a choice of "industrial" nickel-iron, nickel-cadmium, nickel-silver, silver-zinc, silver-cadmium, mercury, and other batteries. In addition, the recent lithium-chloride cell and the zinc-air battery are considered for production line use. Ford has elected to pursue a sodium-sulfur system which uses liquid sodium and liquid sulfur and an aluminum oxide ceramic electrolyte. Batteries with more than fifteen times the power density of conventional lead batteries are expected shortly. At the same time Ford has come up with an electric motor weighing only one-fourth as much as those now sold with the same capacity. GM debuted the Electrovair in late 1966, boasting a silver-zinc battery pack and a motor of 115 horsepower which weighs only 130 pounds. Although weighing 800 pounds more that a standard Corvair, the electric startled reporters by doing 0 - 60 in 16 seconds - quicker than a standard Corvair. This is only the first step in coaxing performance out of an electric system, a step which was devised at least two years ago. Does that indicate what can be expected for release by 1970? It is apparent that by reducing the the weight and using the batteries and motors to come, the ten-second stockers will be a reality whenever the manufacturers choose to sell them. How the electric power can be successfully converted for present (drag racing) use is the problem facing today's smart racer. In analyzing the potential of the electric system for dragster use we are faced with the considerations of weight and cost, but have the advantages of design flexibility, streamlining, and low maintenance costs. Our 1970 "voltster" will weigh a minimum of 1300 pounds - not especially light by today's standards - but conventional Chryslers will still weigh 1100-1200. so the difference is not a major drawback. However, silver-zinc power may keep many would-be electric racers in piston-engined cars for a while, costing upwards of $4000 for adequate voltage. Although some electric proponents forsee bank loans using the silver (valued at two-thirds of the total battery cost) as collateral. The expense of speed has never kept drag racers from breaking records in the past, and I'm sure that such a revolutionary concept will find many willing sponsors. Now the mechanics. Have you ever ridden in an electric trolley or bus and failed to notice the instant acceleration as opposed to the sluggish diesel buses? This experience alone should show you the potential of a lightweight machine designed to maintain that "instant movement" for 1320 feet.>The most significant features of the electric dragster will be two - perfect weight distribution and the control of electric power. Able to design the weight into any location desired, the builder can make maximum traction possible every time, and with throttle controls not unlike the familiar slot car units, the driver can employ all the power possible without spinning the tires. The surprise of seeing 2500-lb. "funny cars" leaping from the line with a two-car lead over a dragster would be the result of perfect traction by the former, smoking tires of the latter. Standard fuel dragster construction requires that the engine be kept at sufficient rpm to avoid bogging, and this results in wheelspin. Electric motors do not function this way, and therefore must be deemed worth at least one full second cut from elapsed time. Ideal weight distribution has another advantage - that of much improved handling. Gone will be the expensive wheelstands, frequent "cross-ups," and dangerous "edge-of-disaster" driving. With infinitely better control of traction with the accelerator, weight need not be jammed, stacked, and torqued onto the rear wheels. More racers will be winning as a result of consistency, being able to drive a near-perfect line without front wheel lift or lightness, and without unpredictable torquing tendencies now experienced by fueler pilots. > > >Electrics will not require the same speed to accomplish any elapsed time that >conventional counterparts do now. Elimination of the traction problem will >make a 5.50-second run feasible with a speed of 220 mph, whereas fuelers did >8.00 at 200, and now hit 7.50 at 220. > > >Speed can be made a factor, however, by streamlining. The flexibility of >component placement allows for the most radical wind-cheating design. Looking >like the speed of sound while standing still, the electric will be enclosed, >with a height of only 36 inches! > > >Blown 1967 Chrysler dragsters are recording 7.50 e.t.'s and averaging 189 >ft./sec., or 129 mph with a terminal speed of approximately 225 mph. The 5.50 >electric car will require an average of 240 ft./sec., or 163 mph, but with a >finish line speed of 220 mph. The initial speed must be substantially greater >to accomplish the average, and this is the very power curve of the electric >battery/motor system - high initial torque decreasing with speed. > > >Coupled with the glue-like traction feature, the initial surge of power will >enable shot-out-of-a-cannon starting line performance. Chryslers will be >spotting the "voltsters" three to four car lengths in the first 200 feet - a >lead which will increase until the Chrysler speed pays off near the finish >line. Races between the two will be over in one second, during which the >'lectric will have taken a three-car lead! > > >Sound fantastic? Just visualize Don Nicholson's Comet funny car, which runs >regular 8.20-175.00 times using the no-wheelspin technique. The car is boxy >and anything but streamlined, weighs 2000 lbs., and has enough of a tendency >to lift the wheels that starting line operation is touchy. The "voltster," by >comparison, will be very slippery, weigh 1300 lbs., and have no problems with >full-throttle starts. > > >The 350-pound motors available today cannot produce the horsepower required >for five-second runs, but one-horse-per-pound models are employed in the >prototypes, and engineers promise even more efficiency before on-sale. Racers' >ingenuity will have no trouble making the modifications necessary to alter the >1970 motors from 1.5 hp/lb. for street use to at least 2.0 hp/lb. for a >five-second burst. > > >Additional changes of the drag racing picture rendered by adoption of electric >power will include the racer's budget. Although the original cost of the >top-flight dragster may be $15,000-$20,000 because of the silver content, >there will be no $75 nitro bill each weekend, no tires thrown away after six >or eight runs, no nitrated oil to change each run, no popped blowers at $300 >per, no fried pistons, etc. > > >Naturally, maintenance of the electric will amount to more than just a >recharge between meets. Brushes, batteries, and the like may need attention, >yet the weekly cost will be nothing like that for a AA/FD. > > >Entries from other classes, stock and modified, will enjoy similar, if not >quite so dramatic, advantages and will experience conditions similar to those >of the "voltsters." The stockers may be classified by factory energy/density >specifications rather than horsepower and cubic inches. All types will pull up >to recharge outlets in the pits to "fill 'er up." > > >Automakers intend to continue with gasoline engines, of course, so those that >resist the electrics or cannot afford to race one of the new models will still >find plenty of action. The first electrics from Detroit will be "city cars," >hardly high-performance versions, intended for short hops. Highway models with >big-inch piston engines will continue as S/S competitors until the endurance >of battery systems is sufficient to enable 300 miles without recharge, at >which time the factories will release more powerful combinations suitable for >all uses. > > >It's probable that the first production electrics will only do 0-60 in about >ten seconds, but the "voltster" will electrify the sport in more ways than one. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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