We held our February 19th race at University of South Florida (USF) Engineering Expo. We thank USF for including us again this year in their annual event. A special thank you goes to USF Team (Kai) for helping with Expo information this year. We also want to thank Bob’s Barricades in Tampa for their prompt delivery of the cones needed for our race.

Once again Mike, Trish and Charlie worked on Friday evening to set up cones and barriers. On Saturday morning they were at it again for a few hours before anyone arrived to complete the event set up.

We had a total of 14 cars attending this year’s event at USF (great turnout).

We started our new process for car inspections. Since our organization is a MENTORING partnership of Contractors, Educators, Engineers, Interested Citizens and Information Technologists, the inspection teams consisted of Executive Board and Team Sponsors from each class. This promotes a unity among teams no matter which class you participate in.

Our organization was formed to educate the STUDENTS in STEM and hands on applications. We thank those that mentored and inspected the cars at this race. Tiger Racing (Rodney Schreck) and Middleton Sponsor (William Knight) inspected the high school cars.Silver Bullet Racing (Jim Robinson, our State of FL representative on the Electrathon America Board) and Fortuna Racing (Mike Ralph) inspected the open and advanced cars.

Reminder, all team cars must arrive on time for inspections to be done prior to the track opening for practice laps.

Mike Frederick (Race Steward) conducted our drivers meeting.As teams lined up for the first race the spectators grew in anticipation of the race starting.When the green flag dropped to start the race, drivers worked to find their line on the track for best performance of their cars. The USF car 48, in the second lap, had their brake system come apart on one of their wheels sending them to the pits. Pro EV car 39 ran well until the motor shaft broke ending their day of racing.
At the end of the first race in the High School Class: 1st Plant City car 83, 67 laps2nd Mulberry car 38, 60 laps3rd Plant City car 210, 58 laps 4th Middleton car 133, 35 laps 5th Middleton car 80, 35 laps 6th Plant City car 208, 33 laps Open Class: 1st Tiger Racing car 4, 73 laps 2nd Silver Bullet Racing Car 94, 71 laps 3rd Kinetic Industries car 19, 64 laps 4th Kinetic Industries car 99, 60 laps Advanced Class: 1st Fortuna car 444, 71 laps 2nd Silver Bullet Racing Car 13, 67 laps3rd Pro EV car 39, 51 laps USF car 48, 1 lapTeams worked on their cars during the break between races.As teams lined up for the second race, only 13 cars lined up. When the green flag dropped, drivers had to manage the tight chicane before getting their line in the track. Plant City car 210 and Kinetic Industries car 99 kissed in the chicane sending one up on the curb. Kinetic Industries car 19 spun out causing some damage later in the race ending their racing for the day. Mulberry car 38 had their rear wheel welds crack. Middleton car 80 had the front suspension welds let go sending them to the pits for the day. Middleton car 133 kept throwing their chain, ending their race day early.

At the end of the second race: High School Class: 1st Plant City car 210, 67 laps, 2nd Plant City car 83, 53 laps, 3rd Plant City car 208, 47 laps, 4th Mulberry car 38, 45 laps, 5th Middleton car 133, 16 laps.

Open Class: 1st Tiger Racing car 4, 71 laps, 2nd Kinetic Industries car 99, 67 laps, 3rd Silver Bullet car 94, 64 laps, 4th Kinetic Industries car 19, 35 laps.

Advanced Class: 1st Silver Bullet car 13, 72 laps (1.00.20), 2nd Fortuna car 444, 72 laps (1.00.22), 3rd USF car 48, 49 laps.

To find the overall results for the race day the laps for both races are added together.

High School Class: 1st Plant City car 210, 125 laps2nd Pant City car 83, 120 laps3rd Mulberry car 38, 105 laps4th Plant City car 208, 80 laps5th Middleton car 133, 51 laps6th Middleton car 80, 35 laps

Open Class: 1st Tiger Racing car 4, 144 laps2nd Silver Bullet Racing car 94, 135 laps3rd Kinetic Industries car 99, 117 laps4th Kinetic Industries car 19, 99 laps

Advanced Class: 1st Fortuna car 444, 143 laps2nd Silver Bullet Racing car 13, 139 laps3rd Pro EV car 39, 51 laps4th USF car 48, 49 laps

Our next race will be on April 9, 2022 at Brandon High School. This is an oval course and the race schedule for the day will be different due to number of cars.