On November 6th we held our Annual STEM Electrathon Dash Race at Plant City High School (PCHS). We thank PCHS Electrathon Sponsors David Kocher, Fernando Guillen, their team and Administration for hosting our races.
We arrived as the rain was coming to an end for the day but the cold breeze continued to keep it cooler than normal. While set up began and our teams arrived, we had to work around the water sprinklers that were soaking the football field and spraying the track and scoring tower.
Our annual STEM dash race allows the driver to race their car at its best performance for 20 minutes on one set of batteries (most laps wins). This time we divided up the cars by class and ran a total of seven races.
In the first race, we had four high school cars, Mulberry car 38 and Plant City cars 83, 208 and 210. The cars performed very well with only a few minor issues towards the end of the race. The receivers on our scoring tower did not do as well with the sprinklers pounding water into them before we could get it stopped. Our race lap totals were done the old way, pen and paper.
When the checkered flag dropped ending the high schools first race it was:
1st Place Mulberry car 38 with 34 laps
2nd Place was a tie between Plant City car 208 and 210 with 26 laps
4th Place Plant City car 83 with 24 laps
In the second race of the day we had four Open Class cars, Kinetic Industries cars 19 and 919, Silver Bullet car 94 and Tiger Racing car 4. The Silver Bullet car 94 and Kinetic car 919 kept the pace and tied for 1st Place.
When the checkered flag dropped ending the Open Class first race it was:
1st Place Silver Bullet car 94 and Kinetic Industries car 919 tied with 35 laps
3rd Place Tiger Racing with 32 laps
4th Place Kinetic car 19 with 27 laps
The third race of the day had four Advanced Battery Class cars, University of South Florida car 48, Pro EV car 39, Silver Bullet car 13 and Fortuna car 444. The Fortuna car had a returning driver, Lizzy Bailey from the Middleton HS team a few years ago, she shared driving with Victoria Hobbs.
Lizzy Bailey and Josh Ridout were both drivers for the Middleton HS Team until they graduated (maybe we can get Josh back in the drivers seat for a team).
The advanced cars performed well and the drivers did not push their cars on the still wet track putting safety first.
The checkered flag dropped with:
1st Place Pro EV car 39 with 42 laps
2nd Place Fortuna car 444 and University of South Florida car 48 tied with 40 laps
4th Place Silver Bullet car 13 with 35 laps
We had our special dash race where Team Sponsors, Principals and Executive Board Members (not the regular driver) got into cars and raced for 20 minutes. Mulberry HS Sponsor Todd Thuma drove car 38, Silver Bullet Sponsor, Jim Robinson drove car 94 and Plant City HS Sponsor David Kocher drove car 210. All the cars and drivers did well. Todd did not have a fresh set of batteries as he saved the charged set for his students second race. We tried to get Todd to go faster with a bribe of a donut that would be waiting for him. 
When the checkered flag dropped it was:
1st Place Plant City HS car 210 with 39 laps
2nd Place Silver Bullet car 94 with 34 laps
3rd Place Mulberry car 38 with 33 laps
As the high school teams lined up for their second race of the day, the excitement filled the air as the teams were all so close on lap counts that anyone could take the gold for the race day. The drivers did well and the cars performed without major issues.
At the end of the race it was:
1st Place Mulberry car 38 with 38 laps
2nd Place Plant City car 83 with 34 laps
3rd Place Plant City car 210 with 33 laps
4th Place Plant City car 208 with 28 laps
The second race for our Open Class went well, Caleb in the Kinetic Industries car 19 found a line on the track and stayed steady the entire race.
When the checkered flag dropped it was:
1st Place Silver Bullet car 94 with 39 laps
2nd Place Tiger Racing car 4 with 36 laps (Rodney said he hit 40 mph during the race)
3rd Place Kinetic Industries car 919 with 32 laps
4th Place Kinetic Industries car 19 with 25 laps
The last race of the day found the advanced cars running on a dry track. Pro EV car 39 and University of South Florida car 48 ran strong races finishing with just one lap difference. The Pro EV car could be heard when Cliff accelerated on the straight away (awesome sound). We had to really pay attention when the Fortuna car 444 came around the track as it is so quite you would never know it was going by.
Pro EV shared the video from the 2nd race before the checkered flag dropped. He also shared the entire video for the 2nd race
When the checkered flag dropped it was:
1st Place Pro EV car 39 with 44 laps
2nd Place University of South Florida car 48 with 43 laps
3rd Place Fortuna car 444 with 29 laps
4th Place Silver Bullet car 13 with 12 laps (did not race the entire time as something came loose in one of the wheels)
The totals from both races were combined for the overall winners for the day.
In the High School Class it was:
Gold Metal (1st Place) Mulberry car 38 with 72 laps
Silver Metal (2nd Place) Plant City car 210 with 59 laps
Bronze Metal (3rd Place) Plant City car 83 with 58 laps
Plant City car 208 with 54 laps received an honorable mention (4th Place)
Our High School Winners
In the Open Class it was:
Gold Metal (1st Place) Silver Bullet car 94 with 74 laps
Silver Metal (2nd Place) Tiger Racing car 4 with 68 laps
Bronze Metal (3rd Place) Kinetic Industries car 919 with 67 laps
Kinetic Industries car 19 received an honorable mention (4th Place) with 52 laps
In the Advanced Battery Class it was:
Gold Metal (1st Place) Pro EV car 39 with 86 laps
Silver Metal (2nd Place) University of South Florida car 48 with 83 laps
Bronze Metal (3rd Place) Fortuna car 444 with 69 laps
Silver Bullet car 13 with 47 laps received an honorable mention (4th Place)
Our next race will be held on December 11th at Middleton High School.