We held our first STEM Electrathon Event at Hillsborough Community College/Brandon Campus on Saturday, September 16th. We thank HCC, Sami Kadamani and Edwin Kelley for their support of our organization. The set up for our event began before the sun started to rise. We thank those that arrived early to help get things ready. Teams arrived, got signed in and their cars inspected. Our Race Steward Mike Frederick met with everyone for the drivers/teams meeting. The track opened for 30 minutes of practice laps so drivers could get familiar with the course. We had eight cars line up for the first, one hour competition. As the green flag dropped to start the race the cars were slow to get going. The Mulberry 38 car had a wheel weld break before they got to turn one, ending their first race. Just shy of 11 minutes into the race Pro EV car 39 had a motor/sprocket issue sending them to the pits. Mulberry car 100 had their front wheel come apart, the pit crew got a new tire and rim on the car and back into the race they went. Plant City car 83 and Middleton car 80 had battery issues that slowed them down later in the race.
When the checkered flag dropped the standings were:
High School
1st Place Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation car 555 with 95 laps
2nd Place Middleton car 133 with 63 laps
3rd Place Plant City car 83 with 53 laps
4th Place Middleton car 80 with 52 laps
5th Place Mulberry car 100 with 40 laps
Open
1st Place Tiger Racing car 4 with 94 laps
Advanced
1st Place Pro EV with 12 laps
Thank you, Pro EV, Cliff for video clip from the first race.
Between races the teams made adjustments to their cars, ate lunch and checked out each other’s cars. We thank Mike Ralph for welding Mulberry car 38’s rear wheel assembly. The track opened for practice laps and Pro EV car 39 was out there after making the repairs/adjustments that showed up in the first race. We had eight cars line up for the second race of the day. When the green flag dropped the teams seemed determined to do better than the first race. Mulberry car 38 started off the line and threw a chain, they worked to get it lined up and could not get it resolved so they returned to the pits, ending their race day. Kirkland Ranch car 555 had their new driver identifier blocking their transponder signal and had to stop to move its position. Pro EV car 39’s rear wheel issue returned just shy of 12 minutes on the track ending their race day. Mulberry car 100 had chain issues during the race.
When the checkered flag dropped it was:
High School
1st Place Kirkland Ranch car 555 with 92 laps
2nd Place Middleton car 80 with 91 laps
3rd Place Middleton car 133 with 76 laps
4th Place Plant City car 83 with 53 laps
5th Place Mulberry car 100 with 35 laps
Open
1st Place Tiger Racing car 4 with 102 laps
Advanced
1st Place Pro EV car 39 with 21 laps
Thank you, Pro EV, Cliff for video clip from the second race.
We add the laps from each race to get our overall race results for the day.
High School
1st Place Kirkland Ranch car 555 with 187 laps 2nd Place Middleton car 80 with 143 laps 3rd Place Middleton car 133 with 139 laps 4th Place Plant City car 83 with 106 laps 5th Place Mulberry car 100 with 75 laps
Open
1st Place Tiger Racing car 4 with 196 laps
Advanced
1st Place Pro EV car 39 with 33 laps
The best lap of the day (30.861) was done by Tiger Racing car 4 during the second race.