https://www.dropbox.com/sh/knfsv1a091cj8nx/AAAgKYP2gGQZw9VHTPM_Tcvta?dl=0

Electrathon of Tampa Bay’s 10th Birthday Race had cars coming from far and wide for a great day of racing. There were teams from Hialeah FL (Tiger Racing), Davie FL (Pro EV), Titusville FL (Silver Bullet Racing), Longwood FL (Electrocutioners) and Chambers County AL along with all our local teams. Local teams were Brandon High School, Lennard High School, Simmons Career Center, and USF.

The team from Chambers County AL made the trip down for the race bringing 2 cars, a school bus full of students and the biggest trailer you ever saw. It even had a solar array on the roof to power up everything. So of course by the time they got to the pits the only place big enough for their trailer was under a big tree. At least they were out of the hot Florida sun.

The race day started out VERY FOGGY. The fog did not lift until the first race was almost over. After Race Steward Mike Fredric’s drivers meeting there were 18 cars lined up for the start of the first race. The starting grid was lined up back around the turn coming into the finish line. When the green flag dropped it was a mad dash for the first turn and into the straights and 180s. After a good bit of bumping and jockeying, the drivers settled into a pretty fast pace.

The Electrocutioners, Pro EV, Tiger Racing, Robinson Racing and USF quickly made it to the front and kept up a blistering pace. The Chambers County #212 car had a very good start and was doing very well right up till the steering broke and they had to withdraw. Hard to steer when the front wheels want to go in different directions. Their #222 car did much better taking 4th place in overall in the High School Division. The #222 car is a 4 wheel design, the first one we have had at one of our races. The drivers did a good job negotiating all the tight turns on the course. Simmons Career Center now has 3 cars. This was the shakedown run for their 3^rd car and it will be competitive after they get the bugs worked out.

The Simmons Career Center Culinary Arts class did a great and much appreciated job of supplying cupcakes with a racing theme for our 10th birthday celebration.

USF had a good outing with their #132 car sporting a new paint job. They also resurrected the OOOOOLD King High School car for one race. It is the one that uses an old aluminum traffic control BOX for a body.

We had a new local team join us for the race. Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate High School had the #55 car ready to go. The #55 car is an ETO loaner and they made great strides getting it race ready. As with every new team and car on the track, they had their challenges during the race day.

The Electrocutioners continued their winning ways with the #90 car taking both races. The Brandon team took the spill of the day award when they tried to see how far they could get one of their cars to go on its side. They turned it over coming out of one of the tight 180’s and the race had to be red flagged because they were taking up the whole track. They did get it right side up and were able to continue the race. No damage to the driver and only some scratches to the car. Great driver as they remembered to keep their hands inside the car rather than the normal reaction to reach outside. The Lennard #86 car had a great return with a 2nd overall in the High School Division. They have been out for a few races with car problems; The Team Sponsor Jim Reve has his team back on the track at 100% and busted Simmons string of 1^st – 2^nd finishes. This is a team to be reckoned with.

Between races ETO recognized three of the founding and still active members of Electrathon of Tampa Bay, Mike Fredrick, Jim Truitt and Vic Nieves. Also on hand at the race were Jim Robinson and Rodney Shrek two of the longest running Electrathon competitors. They both got started right after the invention of the electric motor.

A big thanks to everyone who helped tear down the course. It took 4 people over 4 hours to set it up and it was taken down and put away in 30 minutes

Race Results

Open Class 1st place #4 Tiger Racing 2nd place #94 Robinson Racing

Advanced Battery Class 1st place #90 Electrocutioners 2nd place #72 Electrocutioners 3rd Place #132 U.S.F. 4th place #8 Electrocutioners 5th place #39 Pro EV 6th place #60 U.S.F.

High School Class 1st place #35 Simmons 2nd place #86 Lennard 3rd place #53 Simmons 4th place #222 Chamber County AL 5th place #14 Brandon 6th place #353 Simmons 7th place #9 Brandon 8th place # 55 Brooks-DeBartolo 9th place #212 Chambers County AL

Our next race is at St Petersburg College/Seminole Campus on March 24, 2018 in conjunction with Maker Con and Comic Con.

A big thank you to Executive Board Interns Brady Weber and Nicodemus Brothers for representing ETO at this STEM event. Our team met with guests at this event, answered questions and displayed the Titan car 242. Brady and Nicodemus met with Pinellas County Schools K-12 STEM Specialist Laura Spence and folks from Duke Energy. We will be forwarding information about our organization to them so we may bring our neighboring county on board with Electrathon racing.

The USF race is just days away, everyone should be finishing up last minute prep on their cars. This is our longest running race, this year celebrating 10 years; we will have our largest field for the race with 21 cars pre-registered.

A few reminders and special interest items:

Pit space will be tight so get there early There should be one vehicle OR trailer per team in the pits Overflow vehicles will be parked off course Don’t wait till race day to put your car together. It really slows down the inspections. There will be a meeting of teams that have not raced with ETO at USF prior to the race New teams should plan to get in practice laps prior to the actual race

ETO will be doing course set up Friday at 5 P.M. and finishing up the small details on Saturday morning starting at 6 A.M.

Weather looks good for Saturday and we look forward to our best race day ever…

Electrathon of Tampa Bay will have two cars on display on “Thunder Alley” and in the STEM Pavilion at this upcoming event at Amalie Arena in Tampa Florida. We will display on March 28, 2018. Need teams to contact Charlie to volunteer.

Please check out the link below for more information:

http://synapsefl.com/innovationsummit2018

Electrathon of Tampa Bay is excepting donations of old yellow and red top batteries at the USF Race on February 17, 2018. Please bring those old, dusty batteries to the race and turn them in to us as a donation. We are using these items to acquire gift cards at our races for our first place teams in each class.

Electrathon teams should be preparing for the out of area races. Electrathon of Tampa Bay will use the organizations trailer to transport teams on a first come RSVP bases to the following races:

Saturday – April 28, 2018 Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola Florida. Last Year we had high school, college, open class and advanced battery class cars attend the race and we brought home five of the nine trophies.

Monday – April 30, 2018 Barber Motor Sports in Alabama. Last year we had high school, college, open and advanced battery class cars attend the race and we brought home four trophies.

Please text or email Charlie to reserve your trailer space for these races.

Pensacola Florida, Five Flags Speedway 2017

Leeds Alabama, Barber Motor Sports 2017

Electrathon of Tampa Bay will display and demo one of our electric cars at Tyrone Middle School, located at 6421 22nd Avenue N., St Petersburg Florida. We want to thank Susan Schleith (Florida Solar Energy Center) for inviting us to this event. We will be meeting Pinellas County School Districts K-12 STEM Specialist Laura Spence to promote our organization in Pinellas County Schools. Our Team (Brady Weber and Nicodemus Brothers, Executive Board Interns) will represent us at this event. Our team will have the 242 car on display and welcomes any and all questions about the car and our organization. Good Luck Team, lets get Pinellas County Schools a part of the ETO Family, which includes Hillsborough County Schools and Polk County Schools.

We will have a display at this event on Saturday to promote our organization. Please visit HCC link for more details on this event

https://www.hccfl.edu/br/science-olympiad.aspx

We had a great turnout of students at the HCC Olympiad, answered many questions and promoted ETO to numerous teachers from various counties. Thank You USF and HCC Teams for making this a success.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELECTRATHON OF TAMPA BAY

It was 10 years ago (2008) ETO held their first Electrathon Race at the University of South Florida. Here is a clip from our past.

Once again teams from Electrathon of Tampa Bay will display their Electrathon Cars on Friday, February 16, 2018, at the University of South Florida Engineering Expo. The University of South Florida is located at 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa Florida 33620.

The Engineering Expo has a large number of displays. This event attracts individuals from all over the Tampa Bay Area. Visit their website at:

http://expo.eng.usf.edu

On Saturday, February 17, 2018 Electrathon of Tampa Bay will hold two Electrathon races. Our schedule for the day:

The set up for our race day will begin on Friday afternoon, cones will be delivered and safety barriers will be placed around the event.

Come out for a free, fun filled, family day of racing to support our high school students, college students, and enthusiasts that race.

We welcome a new high school team to the Electrathon Family. On Tuesday, January 30, 2018 Electrathon of Tampa Bay delivered a loaner car to our second high school in Polk County Florida. Team Sponsor James Heuslein and his students were excited to receive their loaner car. The team will be attending the USF Race to become familiar with our organization, race day schedule and meet with other teams. Their first race with their loaner car will be March 24, 2018 at St Pete College/Seminole Campus.