1978 Ford Pinto Electric 1/4 mile Drag Racing trap speed 0-60

(Doug 87L98)
How come only 97MPH trap speed for the 1/4 mile when you have a 84 MPH in the 1/8th? Love the answer you gave for gas! lol

(ann\'marie harris)
that was just great keep up the good work.

(Mike)
geez, I thought I posted an answer to Dougs question but I don't see that it made it. I think we need taller tires. Torque drops off quick with higher RPM so I either need less gear or more tire, I suppose. We're gonna try an extra 1.5\

(Mike)
...an extra 1.5 inches on some beaters tires to see if we can get trap speeds up over 100 mph. Mike

(George Hamstra)
Batteries are starting to deliver, what rear gear are you running? Hope to see you over 100 next week!

(Mike)
Hi George, we're running a 3.25:1 in the Dutchman 9\

(George Hamstra)
Wow! Pulling 1.7 sec 60' with a 3.25 is pretty impressive! I loved the dyno video - especially the series/parallel shift! What if you went with 30 batteries?

(Mike)
The best 60 ft we had was 1.69. We have two strings of 30 batteries for 1500 amps. If we drop to a single string of 30 then we'll only get 750 amps. Looking into a Gear Vendors 2 speed planetary, electric shift overdrive unit. They say they'l take 750 HP. Made for motorhomes. Will fit right between the motor and TH400 tailshaft housing. Only 8\

(Mike)
this comment section won't take the quote marks. ..the unit is only 8 inches long and not bigger around than the motors :-)

(Ted Roger Karson)
Amazing car you have created, thanks. You (Mike Willmon's Crazy Horse Pinto) and AGNS (Shawn Lawless) are about the only EV's we are seeing Racing this year. Buckeye Bullet2 should have used batteries but big money pushing Hydrogen Fuel Cells. With LI-ion batteries they could have gone over 400MPH! Are you thinking about AC? If you were able to get Li-ion on loan, would that put you in the low 11's as it did for John Wayland? The two speed planetary O.D. looks interesting. Would you really need it with AC drive?

(Mike)
LiFePO batteries would put us well into the 11's on weight savings alone. I wish I could afford them, or someone would lend a pack to us. The two speed would help in that we could go to a 4.11 rear end gear and get launched even quicker. I don't desire to go AC just because of the comlexity and cost of the systems. If I break a DC motor I can quickly get a replacement or have the Motor Man rebuild them. I do wish the cars that got me hooked were still running. They will one day when we come knocking on their records.

(Ted Roger Karson)
Thanks Mike, I appreciate the reply. It would seem that AC would solve a lot of problems in the long run (no pun intended). Like less maintenance, simpler drive train. more power, better performance, longer service, less failures, etc. Since you have successfully proven your abilities, I wonder if an AC motor company like Raser, AC Propulsion, Tesla Motors, Buckeye Bullet Teams source, Killacycle Teams source, Siemens, etc would provide an AC motor and inverter on a promo loan? Lastly, if you had the Tesla Motors Roadster AC motor, inverter and battery pack in your Pinto, what do you think this combo turn in the quarter mile? I would predict the 10's.

(Mike)
I predict that the cheap(er) and easier DC system we have in the Pinto will take the Tesla at the track, just like it is. And the Pinto is a heavier car

(Ted Roger Karson)
Your Pinto is a major \

(Mike)
Sorry, I missed the last part of that post (smile) I think this thing does not allow special charaters like in smileys.

(Ted Roger Karsont)
Your Pinto is a major achievement as a world class winning car in drag racing. \

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