Electrathon of Tampa Bay / Electrarhon of Florida, Executive Board has discussed the status of our pending 2019-2020 Race Season.

Electrathon races throughout the US have been cancelled for health reasons as a preventative measure of spreading the virus.

We agree that the health and well being of our students, members and community is the most important issue at this time.

We have cancelled the remaining 2019-2020 race season events.

We are looking forward to starting our 2020-2021 season in September 2020.

Charlie

We received word from Brian Copes in Alabama that the April 13, 2020 Barber Motorsports Electrathon Races have been cancelled. They wish everyone a safe and healthy year and look forward to seeing everyone in 2021.

Our Mulberry High School Electrathon Team Sponsor, Todd Thuma has been named the 2020 Distinguished Manufacturing Secondary Educator of the Year.

The honor is presented by the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center (FLATE), an organization “for manufacturing and advanced technical education, best practices and resources supporting the high performance skilled workforce for Florida’s manufacturing sectors.”

FLATE’s Distinguished Manufacturing Educator award recognizes outstanding teachers, and their work with local business partners to improve academic programs and keep programs closely tied to industry needs.

Todd Thuma is an engineering and technology teacher at Mulberry High. His programs emphasize manufacturing and robotics; he also sponsors the the school’s Technology Student Association Club and oversees MHS electric car racing program, Panther Racing.

We received the email today from Colleen McCann Kettles, Interim Director at the Florida Solar Energy Center that stated “As a result of COVID-19 Energy Whiz 2020 has been cancelled. Thank you for your continued support of our program, and we look forward to next year”.

Electrathon of Tampa Bay / Electrathon of Florida is searching for an alternate venue for our last race of the season and have reached out to four of our high schools to see if the sponsors can arrange for us to still have a race on April 25, 2020. We will advise as soon as possible if this occurs. Please remember that most schools in our area are off for spring break next week which may cause a delay in getting a venue.

Charlie

The race day started out cool and windy at Mulberry High School for our Electrathon races. Mulberry HS Team Sponsor Todd Thuma had his team ready to assist us with setting up the course, the scoring tower and walking the course for safety issues, they even helped Rodney with sweeping areas that had sand in the curves.

As the teams arrived the sun came out but the wind just would not go away, it stayed windy all day which made a challenge for our canopy to stay on the ground.

Our new team from Plant City High School car #21 arrived with a few last minute things to finish on their loaner car (the original long nose car donated to us from the Electrocutioners). They were unable to use any of the ETO sprockets for their wheel motor that we had and after checking with other teams, it was determined their motor shaft was not the normal size that the Etek motors normally have. Rather than leaving because they could not race, the entire team stayed and assisted other teams in the pits and on the track. What a great group of folks.

USF arrived just as the first race was lining up, they got their driver into their car on the line up in time to start the race when the green flag dropped.

Both races went very well with just a few pit stops. Between races there was dancing in the scoring area by Trish to stay warm from the cool breeze. At the end of the race day it was Mulberry HS #38 finishing in 1st Place in the High School Division with 158 laps. Silver Bullet Racing #94 (Jim and Jerry) took 1st place in the Open Division with 186 laps. Tiger Racing #4 finished in 2nd Place with 147 laps. Titans Racing #242 finished in 3rd Place with 103 laps. It was USF #48 that finished in 1st Place in the Advanced Division with 172 laps. USF almost broke the courses fastest lap record the first race. They came out determined in the second race to beat the courses fastest lap record. After pitting towards the end of the second race to tighten some loose spokes, they went for it and broke the fastest course lap of Pro EV #39 25.621 in October 2019 by doing a 25.335 with USF Team Driver Noah.

Our next race will be in conjunction with the Energy Whiz Olympics in Cocoa on April 25, 2020. Hope to see everyone there for another fun filled day of racing and our end of the year awards ceremony.

Charlie

Electrathon of Tampa Bay / Electrathon of Florida had a “JIGGY” weekend build. Todd, Rodney, Jim and Charlie built two Electrathon frame jigs, one for ETO and the other for Rodney. This makes two frame jigs that ETO has for our training of team sponsors on how to construct an Electrathon.We also constructed additional jigs for making other components that attach to the frame. We hope that our next team sponsor training will allow us to build three Electrathon frames for teams to purchase and complete.Todd Thuma of Mulberry High School used one of our sprocket jigs to weld his two front wheel assemblies for the new car that they are building at their school.

We want to thank the Best Western in Titusville for all of their support and room accommodation’s when we conduct our trainings in their area. Great hotel and wonderful staff.

We hope to see everyone at our next event, February 21st, we will have our cars on display at the USF Engineering Expo in Tampa and then we take over their parking lot on Saturday, February 22nd for our two Electrathon Races. Our first race starts at 10am, and our second race starts at 1pm. Bring the entire family for this FREE, FUN FILLED EVENT

Our next event will be held in conjunction with the University of South Florida IEEE Engineering Expo located at 3824 USF Alumni Drive, Tampa FL 33620.

On Friday, February 21, 2020, we will have our Electrathon cars on display at the Engineering Expo to show students from various counties and answer any questions they may have concerning the design, build and components of an Electrathon car. This Expo draws a large number of students each year to show new ideas. For more information go to: expo.eng.usf.edu

On Saturday, February 22, 2020, Electrathon Cars hit the parking lot for two 1 hour races. This is one of our original venues for Electrathon Racing in Tampa Bay. The road course is very challenging for drivers and their team cars. The first race starts at 10am and the second race starts at 1pm.

On Friday, we will do a partial set up of the safety barrier around the course and then around 5pm the cones will be delivered, (Thank You Bob’s Barricades) to set up the actual road course.

It would be nice to see some of our North Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana Electrathon Teams at this race.

On January 24, 25, 2020, six team sponsors worked with instructors the entire weekend to build two Electrathon car frames. When Sunday evening came around, two frames needed some final welding before they were ready for a team. We thank our sponsor for the funds to hold our second training seminar. We will be selling these frames and others we build at future trainings so that the training seminars are self supportive so that we can continue to train others.

We hope everyone had a great Holiday and a Safe New Years

Our next race will be held on January 18, 2020 at Wharton High School located at 20150 Bruce B. Downs Blvd, Tampa FL 33647. This will be a road course for our teams and the first race in 2020.

We will do a partial set up on Friday, January 17, 2020 around 4 P.M. and finish the set up the next morning when we arrive around 630 A.M.

Hope to see everyone there to kick off 2020 with a great race.

Charlie

Once again like our Lee County Florida race, the weather could not make up its mind what to do. During the week the rain chances kept changing. When we started arriving on Saturday, December 14th at Brandon High School it was pouring and the winds were kicking up. By 715 the rain let up and things started to look better for our Dash Race Day.

We decided that since the weather was showing more bands of rain, we would not bring out the electronics and scoring system. We reverted back to our old school ways when Ken Fiallos had a line of score keepers marking down each lap that a team made. It was much easier since we only had seven cars confirmed for the day’s event.

Our Dash Race day is held once during our nine month race season. This is the race where teams are permitted to safely drive as fast as their car and driver are comfortable with until their batteries die or the maximum time limit of twenty minutes.

We want to Thank Brandon High School Administration, Team Sponsor Timothy Ruman and his team for allowing us to be at their facilities for our Annual Dash Race. They did a great job getting things organized and made sure the event was successful.

Since we only had seven cars competing in today’s event, we all agreed to adjust the schedule for the day and have everyone on the track at the same time.

Teams lined up at 945 for the first race, our open class teams were challenged in the first race. HCC car 30 had a few last minute things to finish on their car that took longer than expected leaving them in the pits the entire first race. Team Titans car 242 came out strong in the first race but the batteries died after nine laps sending them to the pits until the next race.

High School Class – Mulberry car 38 did well with 34 laps in the twenty minute race followed by Brooks DeBartolo car 55 with 26 laps.

Advanced Battery Class – We had three teams in the advanced battery class; two of them leaving the open class lead acid batteries in the pits. That’s right; Silver Bullet car 94 had a great showing with lithium batteries with 39 laps and Tiger Racing car 4 using lithium had 40 laps. The fast runner in lithium batteries was Pro EV car 39 with 44 laps the first race.

While the teams charged up their batteries and made adjustments to their cars, our team sponsors and board members went at it on the track for twenty minutes. Mulberry High School sponsor Todd Thuma came in 1st Place with 38 laps, Race Steward/Board Member Mike Frederick completed 37 laps for 2nd Place and
HCC Sponsor Alex Ambrioso completed 30 laps for a 3rd Place finish

In the second team race the Advanced Battery Class was screaming around the track as they went past the scoring area. Pro EV car 39 completed 47 laps followed by Silver Bullet car 94 with 42 laps and Tiger Racing car 4 completed 39 laps. In the Open Class HCC car 30 dominated the track with 27 laps over the 1 lap that the Titans car 242 completed. In the High School class Mulberry car 38 completed 33 laps defeating Brooks DeBartolo and car issues with only 1 lap.

At the end of the day, the laps were counted for our overall winners for each class.
Mulberry HS came in 1st Place with 67 laps and Brooks DeBartolo came in 2nd with 27 laps.

Open Class – HCC car 30 completed 27 laps for a 1st Place finish and Titans car 242 finished in 2nd Place with 15 laps.

Advanced Battery Class Pro EV car 39 did a total of 91 laps for a 1st Place finish, Silver Bullet car 94 finished in 2nd Place with 81 laps and Tiger Racing car 4 finished in 3rd Place with 79 laps.

Our next race will be held at Wharton High School on January 18, 2020. Hope to see everyone there for our first race in 2020.