[Charles Nungester]

Im sure the racing could be exciting. But from a spectator standpoint, the "FEEL" wouldn't be.

[RCDawg83]

I spent about an hour talking to the guys that built this today (it's at the IMIS show in the USAC booth). They built it in 28 days for the show. Its a guy with a battery testing facility in Columbus (Ohio). Somebody told him it would be cool to do this so he did it. He says that it has enough motor and battery to be dialed in to be competitive with a Focus midget and almost enough to be competitive with a regular midget. His plans are to just demo it at a few venues and maybe race in a few Focus Midget races this coming season (not necessarily for points - just to see how fans would respond). They are not offically linked to Ohio State, but some of the technology is the same as what was used on the Buckeye Bullet. Many components (the motor in particular) are borrowed from GM production (hybrid) vehicles. For you rc guys (like me) the battery packs are LiFe. The motor is brushless, but not quite the same technology as what we use. The motor is up front, but there is an alternate design which would hang it over the rear axle like the T4's and SC10's* that we all know and love. One charge could last all night in a typical Focus midget show.

The USAC guys did not seem to know what to make of it, but were intrigued enough to give him the booth space.

* oops - should throw Slashes in there since Traxxas is a big USAC sponsor

[cshuman]

I'm not sure that thing was quite ready for the public yet, a lot of "we don't know" answers, and pretty rough looking...

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[darnall]

Hey guys thank you for the info and pics.....So I assume, based on the radiator being in place and the hoses coming out of it, that this is a water cooled electric motor? I didn't even know such a thing existed.

I guess I should also assume that somewhere in there lies a power steering pump running off the motor in some fashion since the steering gear is not manual.

And I also assume that the big silver box behind the seat is where the batteries are mounted.....I wonder how heavy they are compared to 15 gallons of fuel being in almost the same location.

This is still very intriguing to me whether or not its as fast as expected and even though it won't sound like a racecar going around the track.

[RCDawg83]

The motor is oil cooled. Horsepower and torque specs are about what was stated in a post above.

And yes, the boxes in the back house the batteries. The card that he gave me says Columbus Electric Motorsports, but they don't seem to have a website.

[ImissAscot]

Originally Posted by darnall Hey guys thank you for the info and pics.....So I assume, based on the radiator being in place and the hoses coming out of it, that this is a water cooled electric motor? I didn't even know such a thing existed. I guess I should also assume that somewhere in there lies a power steering pump running off the motor in some fashion since the steering gear is not manual. And I also assume that the big silver box behind the seat is where the batteries are mounted.....I wonder how heavy they are compared to 15 gallons of fuel being in almost the same location. This is still very intriguing to me whether or not its as fast as expected and even though it won't sound like a racecar going around the track.

You'd be very suprised at how light some batteries can be to run this and or a standard midget engine.......

[Jack Dupp]

Would certainly be less invasive on the eyes and lungs at an indoor race.

[Midget18]

This will also cost about 30k right now to do it

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[RCDawg83]

Originally Posted by Jack Dupp Would certainly be less invasive on the eyes and lungs at an indoor race.

I told him about Ft. Wayne coming up.

[Columbus Electric]

This was a Ford Focus style all-electric Midget from Columbus Electric Motorsports. It was developed for display for USAC. You should be able to see it running as a demo in Ocala in February at Bubba's Winter Dirt event. It has a 700V electric motor/Inverter that will be running at about 500V for the Ford Focus Series. It has a large enough battery pack to provide energy for practice or qualifying laps, 2 qualifying races, and the feature event or final. Since you get max torque at 0 RPMs with a permanent magnet electric motor, its torque curve ... and therefore responsiveness ... is significantly better than an I/C engine's. The Midget's powertrain is software limited/controlled for safety, but uncontrolled the 0-60 MPH times would be about half that of the comparable Midget IC engine and the top speed would be significantly higher as well. As utilized in an actual Ford Focus race, it would simply feel more responsive at speeds less than the top speeds for the track. At the top speeds for the track (especially 1/4 and 1/3 mile tracks), driving, set-up, "drifitng and lifting" through the turn, etc. still play a very significant role in both platforms ... but all the speed and power is there. Electric racers bring an interesting paradign shift to powertrain ownership in that the motor/inverter lasts for 20+ years without maintenance and the battery packs would last for 3+ years without maintenance. So the upfront costs are a bit higher, but the resale values are much, much higher and the operating costs are very significantly lower. In the future, it may even be possible to use the same electric powertrain for multiple engine classes that are racing on the same chassis (simply using software controls to operate as a Ford Focus Midget, an XYZ Midget, or an ABC Midget in the same weekend of racing).