Welcome to the official home of Electrathon of Tampa Bay! Our vision is to contribute to the laying of a foundation for a green, vibrant, low carbon future full of possibilities and opportunities for tomorrow’s children in the Tampa Bay area. It is our mission to make this contribution by promoting Electrathon Racing and Solar Sprinting, endeavors full of technological entrepreneurial challenges and adventure.

Electrathon racing is a somewhat recent invention, first started in the 90s in Australia. It is has grown in popularity in the Northwest and New England States as well in Canada and Mexico. The relatively low cost of the Electrathon Racing has made the sport a popular activity for many colleges and technical schools although it has achieved its largest participation among high school age students world-wide. Students are actively exposed to a wide variety subjects from aerodynamics, AutoCAD, power electronics, computer control of electric vehicle propulsions systems, structural analysis, and skills directly related to technological business management.

Our Philosophy:
ETO’s Executive Committee believes that a “hands-on” approach to the education of today’s students can contribute greatly to the learning of fundamental physical principals and the building of a technical foundation. This approach has received less emphasis in the education of youth due to changing cultural influences, changes in educational expectations and opportunities and changes in technology itself. All of these changes have diminished the opportunities for basic hands on understanding of physical phenomena. Culturally today’s youth are less hands on when compared to the shade tree car and bicycle mechanics of the 50’s. Today’s students are more “connections oriented” with respect to the devices they use whereas in the 50’s they may have picked up a tool and opened up their car radio to check the vacuum tubes inside. Further compounding this move away from hands on learning is that today’s education system has shifted more to training for service oriented occupations as manufacturing has disappeared from America’s shores further depressing the gaining of knowledge through hands on experience. Lastly technology has become software based for example to carry out such basic functions such as braking or adjusting fuel/air mixture thus making the acquisition of basic principles somewhat less accessible through hands on. We believe, as Educators and Engineers that the providing of opportunities through “the hands on application of science and engineering knowledge in a competitive technical arena” can strengthen students in their preparation for tomorrow’s jobs in transportation and engineering. Through outreach, partnerships and support of K12 and Community College Clubs throughout the (8) county area ETO’s Engineering and Educational staff will make a lasting difference in the lives of members and they will in turn impact their communities in a positive way.

Please support Electrathon of Tampa Bay by becoming a member. Your membership identifies you with promoting engineering education and strengthening America’s Future. You will be featured on our website and at our Races. Make a donation of any amount for your membership to help support our teams.

Donation Levels:
$1-$40 Basic Believer
$41-$80 Green Pioneer
$81-$120+ Electric Vanguard

We want to thank Manager Rob Nolen and the Lowes Team in Valrico (1515 E. Brandon Blvd) for all of their support to Electrathon Racing. Over the past few months they have donated all of our yellow caution tape for our races and this month they donated a 6′ folding table for our scoring system computer and monitor. Please support them by driving to their store in Valrico for all of your home furnishing needs. If you get a chance to see Rob walking around in the store, make sure to introduce yourself and thank him personally for their support to Electrathon of Tampa Bay.

REMINDER

Our next race is this Saturday, December 12, 2015 at Simmons Career Center in Plant City Florida. Simmons Team Sponsor Denis Bouchard has arranged for good food and a great course. Bring the entire family for a free fun day of racing.

Our next race is rapidly approaching us along with the end of the year. With the holidays, special events and family time our dedicated teams, drivers and volunteers will be at the last race of 2015.

Simmons Career Center, Team Sponsor Denis Bouchard has arranged for homemade barbecue and the sides for the race. Cost will be reasonable for portions of food. Please support this new team by purchasing your lunch at the event.

On Tuesday, November 10, 2015, The Hillsborough County School Board will present to Ken Fiallos (ETO Founder) the 2015 STEM Champion Award. The ceremony starts at 530pm and will be held at 901 E. Kennedy Blvd in downtown Tampa. Please come out and support Ken and our organization (ETO) at this recognition ceremony.

Charlie

Our next race will be at Middleton High School, located at 4801 North 22nd Street, Tampa FL 33610. The Middleton Team will be selling food as a fund raiser for their teams, one of them is an ALL GIRLS TEAM, the only one in the entire State of Florida. The course will be an oval with two areas on the back straight away that has cones to make a simple serpentine for drivers to navigate through. The green flag for the first race drops at 10am and drops again at 1pm for the second race.

The second race of the season went well. Our host, Strawberry Crest Electrathon Team with Sponsor Jim Brockman provided great food and drinks along with a challenging course. We started the race with twelve cars under the direction of our founder Ken Fiallos. Many drivers thought the drivers education range would be that simple little oval with an inset. This course challenged drivers with an inset on both ends that were not the same. Cones flew on a few occasions as the turns took over the car and away from the driver. All safety barriers proved to be effective making all drivers safe during both races. A special thanks to Tom Beck for filling in as our Race Stewart for the day.

The second race of the season is coming upon us quickly. The Strawberry Crest High School Team will host the race for the very first time. Jim Brockman (Sponsor) has done a great job getting this approved at their site for his team. Lets show our appreciation to them by having a great turn out and a safe race. The track will be set up on the drivers education pad located on the NW side of the campus. The course will be similar to that of the drivers education pad at Tampa Bay Tech as seen in the diagram. The flag to start the first race will drop at 10am followed by our second race at 1pm.

FAMILY, FRIENDS and RACE FANS JOIN US AT OUR FIRST RACE
Our first race will be held at Hillsborough Community College, located at 10414 East Columbus Drive
Join us for a day full of fun for the entire family, free admission
The flag to start the first race will drop at 10am and the second race will begin at 1pm

Vaughn Nicholas advised us that the date for the Five Flags Race will be either the 2nd or 3rd weekend in April. Five Flags will not set the date until their current race season is over in October.