[clug] Canberra electric vehicles group - first contact

Paul Wayper paulway at mabula.net
Mon Feb 1 19:58:45 MST 2010


 On Tue 02/02/10 7:55 AM , Michael Still mikal at stillhq.com sent: 
 Paul Wayper wrote: 
 
 > Firstly, there's a lot of interest in the local group in starting a 
EV racing 
 > standard and, within one to two years, getting actual races 
happening. 
 > Initial ideas revolved around a standard car chassis that is fully 
CAMS 
 > approved (which is necessary for official racing), but then someone 
mentioned 
 > go-karts as a lower-cost entry level category which also got a lot 
of nods. 
 
 I don't think this is as true as you'd think. I had a quick look on  
 ebay, and a used gokart is $2000+, for which you can get an ok car.  
 Sure, the kart has a motor you can strip off and sell, but I think  
 you're still talking about a lot of money for a development platform. 
  [1] 
 The initial idea was to go with a relatively standard road racing 
frame that was fully CAMS certified so that there was a degree of 
conformity to the racing. If you standardise the chassis, then the 
important points become the drive train and (to a lesser extent) the 
driver. In the future it might be opened up so the chassis design was 
modifiable but in the short term that opens up too many problems, not 
the least being getting CAMS certification for each group's chassis. 
CAMS certification was seen as desirable to have it as an event that 
would get wide-spread traction with both CAMS (they have an 
Alternative Energy racing subgroup) and the wider motor racing 
community. 
 
 The general objective was to open the eyes of the general public and 
show them that electric cars could be fast, fun and a collaborative 
process. Racing is one way of doing that; having electric cars on the 
roads is another; having EV meetups like last years (with the Tesla in 
attendance, which set a new hill climb record apparently) and is a 
third; and so on. 
 
 Go-karts are fun, relatively simple, and most professional racing 
drivers graduate from the high-end go-kart circuit. I see it more 
likely that the smaller groups will get involved in electric go-carts, 
but having the higher end there to appeal to more serious enthusiasts 
and groups (I fully see the Canberra EV group getting together and 
building one) is a good avenue for more serious racing fans. I also 
think it would improve the credibility of electric vehicles as capable 
of high-end racing. 
 
 Have fun, 
 
 Paul 
   
 
Links: 
------ 
[1] http://www.canberraev.org/ 
 


More information about the linux mailing list