Visit the Photo Album for HCC Race at: (Copy and paste link into Browser)https://www.flickr.com/photos/132647601@N06/albums/72157673849750930

Electrathon of Tampa Bay kicked off the 2016-2017 Electrathon and Junior Solar Sprint Race Season on September 24, 2016 at Hillsborough Community College in Brandon Florida. The college was a great host, providing us with snacks and refreshments during the day and a great race course for our teams to compete. We thank everyone that was involved in the scheduling for this race.

We had seven cars representing three high school teams, two cars/teams representing our college/open, and three cars/two teams representing experimental battery. ETO implemented team members (pit crew) wearing safety vests when responding to a down car so drivers can see them on the course. We asked teams to join us at the Longwood Parade on December 3, 2016, driving their car or walking the parade route handing out flyers to promote Electrathon Racing. ETO encouraged teams to plan for the races in Pensacola Florida (Five Flags Speedway), Leeds Alabama (Barber Motor Sports), and Quitman Georgia (Brooks HS, Run for the Peaches). ETO will transport four cars to each of these races in the ETO trailer. We handed out a suggested team structure to our high school and college teams to promote organization and team work.

The first Electrathon Race had a total of twelve cars lined up when the green flag dropped for racing. University of Central Florida had their wheel hub come apart sending a tire down the course, Pro EV with their new motor worked to get the alignment of their chain set. The high school first race results are: 1^st Middleton car 80, 2^nd Middleton car 365, 3^rd Middleton car 133, 4^th Brandon car 14, 5^th Strawberry Crest car 60, 6^th Brandon car 9, 7^th Strawberry Crest car 30. The open first race results are: 1^st Tiger Racing, 2^nd University of Central Florida. The experimental battery first race results are: 1^st Electrocutioners car 8, 2^nd Electrocutioners car 72, 3^rd Pro EV car 39.

The Junior Solar Sprint Races were held between the Electrathon races. Mike Wilson and Don Hasselwood prepared the course; a number of teams competed and had fun. The race results are: 1^st Kayla Pagan, 2^nd Jacqueline Suarez, and 3rd Jaylin Rasumoff.

The second Electrathon Race started with eleven cars as the University of Central Florida was not able to repair the damages from the loss of their wheel hub in the first race. Our second race had some excitement when Pro EV car 39 spun out in turn one and faced others cars on the track. We are proud of all of our drivers for the way they drove in both races. The high school second race results are: 1^st Brandon car 14, 2^nd Middleton car 365, 3^rd Middleton car 80, 4^th Middleton car 133, 5^th Brandon car 9, 6^th Strawberry Crest car 30, 7^th Strawberry Crest car 60. The open second race results are: 1^st Tiger Racing. The experimental battery second race results are: 1^st Electrocutioners car 8, 2^nd Electrocutioners car 72, 3^rd Pro EV.

We had a great day of family fun and racing.

Our overall total laps, top three team winners are: High School – 1^st Middleton car 365, 2^nd Brandon car 14, 3^rd Middleton car 80. Open/College – 1^st Tiger Racing car 4, 2^nd University of Central Florida car 823. Experimental Battery – 1^st Electrocutioners car 8, 2^nd Electrocutioners car 72, 3^rd Pro EV.

Mark your calendars for our next race, October 22, 2016 at Tampa Bay Technical High School, 6410 Orient Road, Tampa Florida 33610.

Video by Strawberry Crest HS at HCC in Brandon, Florida

Welcome Electrathon Racing Teams, our first race of the season will be held at Hillsborough Community College, located at 10414 East Columbus Drive, Tampa Florida 33619. The race day schedule will be the same as last season with the exception of this race. There will be a mandatory ETO orientation conducted for everyone from 730am to 830am. We have new teams, new cars, new drivers, new safety protocols and team structure suggestions.

The yellow is our safety barrier, red is our course, black is our scoring tower and green will be the pit area.

This year ETO will assist high school and college teams in attending races in Pensacola Florida (Five Flags Speedway), Quitman Georgia (Run for the Peaches), and Leeds Alabama (Barber Motor Sports) by transporting team cars and some equipment in our ETO trailer. This will be done on a first come basis; teams should send a written reservation to Fredi Beck (Treasurer/Publicist). Our ETO trailer will hold 3 or 4 cars and equipment.

On August 8, 2016 we held our Annual Team Board Meeting at Cracker Barrel in Seffner Florida. We reached many of our Business Plan Goals for 2015 – 2016 and feel we had a great race season.

As we kick off the race season for 2016 – 2017 our Race Schedule in almost done and looks to be a good one. We are trying to combine our races with other site based events so we attract a larger group of spectators. This year we will have new teams, new cars, new drivers, new safety protocols, team structure suggestions. At our first race of the season ETO will hold a 1 hours (730-830) mandatory orientation for everyone.

This year ETO will assist teams in attending races in Pensacola (Five Flags Speedway), Quitman GA (Run for the Peaches), and Alabama (Barber Motor Sports) by transporting team cars and some equipment in our ETO trailer. This will be done on a first come basis; teams should send a written reservation to Charles Harrison. Our ETO trailer will hold 3 or 4 cars and equipment.

Hope to see everyone at our first race

We will be holding our annual Board Meeting that consists of the Executive Board and representatives from every team (Sponsor/Team Captains/Designee) on August 8, 2016 at the Cracker Barrel located by Lazy Days RV in Seffner Florida. The meeting will start at 430p.m. come early to eat and socialize before the meeting.

Visit the Photo Album for the awards banquet at: (Copy and paste link into Browser) https://www.flickr.com/photos/132647601@N06/sets/72157669368364175

First of all, I want to apologize for the late posting for our end of the year banquet

Charles Harrison, ETO President

We had our banquet on June 4, 2016; the food catered by Whaley’s was amazing. Fredi Beck and her ETO helpers once again hosted an excellent banquet. The guest speaker for the evening was Rodney Schreck of Tiger Racing. Rodney, an Electrathon Racer for over 20 years gave a summary of his 2015 -2016 race season. He attended all nine of our races and then traveled to Electrathon races at Barber Motor Sports in Alabama, Touchstone Energy in Beloit Kansas, Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola Florida, Sunflower Electro Rally in Scott City Kansas and Run for the Peaches in Quitman Georgia. Rodney drove over 2,000 laps this season in his Tiger Racing Electrathon car. Thank you Rodney for the insight on motors, gears and how races are held outside of our area.

Our awards for the 2015 – 2016 Electrathon Race Season

High School Class

1st Place – Simmons Career Center, Car #35

2nd Place – Tampa Bay Tech, Car #242

3rd Place – Middleton, Car #80

Open Class

1st Place – Tiger Racing, Car #4

2nd Place – University of South Florida, Car #132

3rd Place – Robinson Racing, Car #94

Experimental Class

1st Place – Electrocutioners, Car #8

2nd Place – Electrocutioners, Car #72

3rd Place – Pro EV, Car #39

Team Leader Awards

Brandon High School – Hannah Tracy

Middleton High School – Ryan Norden

Simmons Career Center – Jesus Esquivel

Tampa Bay Tech High School – Juan Jimenez

Wharton High School – Erica Winfrey

University of South Florida – Aditya Chelikani

Most Laps

1,160 laps – High School Class – Simmons Career Center, Car #35

1,368 laps – Open Class – Tiger Racing, Car #4

1,194 laps – Experimental Class – Electrocutioners, Car #8

ETO Team Advisor of the Year

Kyle Thompson – Middleton High School

ETO Sponsor of the Year

Bob Clarke, Owner, Clarke Automotive, Brandon Florida

Corporate Sponsor of the Year

Rob Nolen, Store Manager, Lowes #2282 in Valrico Florida

The 2015 – 2016 Electrathon and Junior Solar Sprint Race Season is over; we held nine races at various locations and had a great time. We want to thank everyone that sponsored a race at their location; the site was opened for us to have a Saturday full of fun and camaraderie among our teams.

The ETO Banquet (barbecue) and Awards Ceremony will be held on Saturday, June 4, 2016 from 4:30 – 7 p.m. at the HCPS Instructional Services Center, 2920 N. 40^th Street, Tampa Florida 33605. The cost is $10.00 adults/$6.00 kids under 12. Please RSVP the number in your party to fredi.beck@sdhc.k12.fl.us.We want to thank our 2015 – 2016 sponsors and supporters for this race season:

• Rob Nolen, Manager of the Valrico Lowes
• Bob Clarke, Owner of Clarke Automotive in Brandon
• Parrot Signs
• Debbie Dixon, Great Florida Insurance, Lakeland Florida
• Dan McFarland, Hillsborough County Public Schools
• Larry Plank, Hillsborough County Public Schools
• Cliff Rassweiler, Team Pro EV
• Rodney Schreck, Team Tiger Racing
• Vic Nieves, Retiree Hillsborough County Public Schools
• Jim Robinson, Team Robinson and Son
• Laura and Richard Epperson, Friends of ETO
• Numerous individuals that made cash donations to support Electrathon of Tampa Bay

UPDATE

On 4/21/16 we met with the staff at the Florida Solar Energy Center to plan the course for our race (1062′). TEAMS MUST PRE-REGISTER USING THE LINK BELOW.

Our next race (last one of the season) will be on May 14, 2016 at the Florida Solar Energy Center located at 1679 Clearlake Road, Cocoa, Florida. We will be meeting soon to plan the course.

The Florida Solar Energy Center’s Energy Whiz is all about clean energy and creative kids. Once a year hundreds of students converge at the Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa, Florida to participate in renewable energy competitions. Created by the Florida Solar Energy Center in 1999, the Energy Whiz is a forum for students to demonstrate their science, technology, engineering, artistic and mathematics (STEAM) knowledge and skills, as they relate to energy topics such as solar thermal, photovoltaic’s (PV) and hydrogen technologies. Competitions include: Junior Solar Sprint, Critter Comfort Cottage, Energy Transfer Machine, Solar Energy Cook-off, Energy Innovations, Hydrogen Challenge, and of course, the Energy Whiz EVTC Electrathon race.

For more information about the Energy Whiz Olympics, you may download their brochure at http://www.energywhiz.com/energywhiz/EWO-brochure_EW-10.pdf.

ATTENTION: TEAMS

If you intend to participate in the Electrathon race held at the Florida Solar Energy Center during the Energy Whiz Olympics on May 14, YOU MUST PRE-REGISTER. TO REGISTER, click on this link, complete the form, and click the “submit” button at the end of the registration page.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/r/98GZ8C6

Our next race will be held on April 9, 2016 at the Florida State Fairgrounds located at 4800 US Hwy 301 in Tampa Florida. Our track is 1710′ long and includes an S curve and a tight turn on the North end of the track. Our first race will be at 10am and our second race will be at 1pm. This race will be part of the 2016 MakerCon Event which will include mechanical, electrical, communications, transportation, hardware and software development, heritage crafts and trades, arts, music, gaming, modeling and simulation, and STEM initiatives.  We will have one of our Electrathon cars (ETO Car 60) on display inside with brochures for guests attending the event.

http://gulfcoastmakers.com/gulf-coast-makercon/

Our next race will be held at Middleton High School, located at 4801 N. 22nd Street, Tampa, FL 33610 on March 12, 2016. This race will be unlike our normal races as our drivers will have only 20 minutes to obtain as many laps as possible. The course will be the oval track at the stadium. In between our Electrathon races, 11am to 1230pm our Junior Solar Sprint Teams will be racing their cars.

Our High School and College Divisions will race at the same time, line up for the first race will be at 945am, green flag racing will be 10am to 1020am. The second race line up will be at 1245pm, green flag racing will be 1pm to 120pm.

Our Open and Experimental Divisions will race at the same time, line up for the first race will be at 1025am, green flag racing will be 1040am to 1100am. The second race line up will be at 125pm, green flag racing will be 140pm to 2pm.

Lennard High School tested their new Electrathon today. Team Sponsor Jim Reve and his Electrathon Team are energized and ready for our March 12, 2016 race at Middleton High School. We welcome them to the Electrathon Family.