2003 Late

Motor

Dual Warfield 8 inch series-wound motors. (225 lbs.) Motors configuarable in either series or parallel wiring.

Drive type

Direct drive. Motor shafts connected with splined coupler between front and rear motors. Electric reverse.

Driveshaft

Two piece driveline with center carrier bearing. Front and rear driveline loops.

Rear axle

'57 Ford nine inch axle setup out of a V8 Chevy LUV minitruck. 4:57 gears. Locked minispool. Air shocks & traction bars.

Wheels & Tires

Front - Eagle 5 spoke 13 x 5.5 alloys with 4 bolt Nissan rear drive offset and 175/50/13 Nitto Exit GS radials.

Rear - Eagle 5 spoke 14 x 6 alloys with 5 bolt Ford front drive offset. Removed Nitto 'Extreme Drag Radials' and mounted new BF Goodrich 'TA Drag Radials' on rear rims for improved traction. BF Goodrich drag tires are taller at 24" diameter. This close up shows a TA Drag Radial slightly wrinkling under a hard Zombie launch as the meaty rubber digs in against the massive electric motor torque.

Batteries

The ill-fated Woodburn runs forced another redesign of the battery system. (left) Removed the 28 'Power Fit' batteries and changed the pack to 18 larger and heavier 12 volt Exide 'Blue Top Orbitals' rated at 50 ahr each and tested to deliver 1800 amps! The Orbitals are way heavier at 40 lbs. per battery, so the pack voltage had to be lowered to just 216V nominal to keep the total pack weight similar, now slightly heavier at 732 lbs. total pack weight. Going down from the 336V level to barely above 200 volts, the hope was that with all the BIG amps the Orbitals could crank out the car might still be able to get back into the 13s. (right) 8 of the 18 Orbitals fit nicely into the rear seat area enclosure, so a new one did not have to be made.

The previous aluminum trunk enclosure would not hold the remaining 10 Orbitals and was removed. A thick flat aluminum plate was made as a base, lowered into the sunken well, and bolted down. (left) The 10 trunk area batteries sat on the base plate and were securely bolted to it. Note that the previous Bubba contactor and associated high current cables were retained to keep the split pack dump charge option.(right)

Controller

Godzilla controller tweaked in early October from 1200 amps up to 1400 amps. Steering wheel thumb button for contactor controlled series-parallel shifting. After the controller 'hop-up', at the October 17th PIR drags, the ETs dropped by more than a half second!

12 volt system

Twin Exide 12V, 12 ahr small AGM batteries. No DC-DC - external charging required.

Other Mods

None

Car weight

2395 lbs. (est)

Races and EVents

9-19-2003 Portland Street Legal Drags...best ET of 14.489 @ 93.70 mph

9-26-2003, PIR Drags..14.355 @ 95.20 mph, new world record for SC/B class!

10-17-2003, PIR Drags..13.754 @ 97.27 mph, new world record for SC/B class!

Carnage

None

Plasmaboy Quotes

  1. Post-Woodburn "I've rebounded from my disappointing 'experiment' with 28 Exide UPS style batteries (they popped like popcorn, even at 500 amps) and failure mode at Woodburn, and have almost completed the next attempt to get White Zombie past the 13's and into the 12's....18 Orbitals at 216V, nearly the exact weight pack as the ill-fated 720 lb. 336V stack of 28, 35 ahr, but with HUGE current capabilities tested to 1800+ amps). Godzilla # 3 will be cranked up to its full 1400 battery amps with a pack that can dish that kind of power out. The lower pack voltage can be hopefully compensated for, with less sag, and the dual motor shift from series to parallel. I'm going to go knock heads with the rice burner import freaks at Portland International Raceway this Friday night... a few of which, are turning 11's, but most, are in the high 13-mid 14 second range...should be fun!"
  2. 9-19 Portland Street Drags "Each time I rolled up to the line, the announcer went nuts with positive comments about the electric drag car..."OK everybody, here's that quick 'eeelectric!' Watch this burnout (I would stick the throttle hard and do a mini smoke show for them)"The last run was with the batteries finally starting to warm up a bit...14.489 @93.70 mph. We had a great time at the track. I was able to drive the car there, and drive it back home without a single glitch...it ran flawlessly!"
  3. 9-26 PIR Drags "This time, a classic 396 Chevelle heavy Chevy was next to me. The Chevelle did a nice burnout, but with my funky mechanical line lock no longer functioning (slated to be replaced this week with an electric line lock), I simply staged and waited for the Chevelle to follow suit. The Zombie jumped the V8 Chevelle off the line, and it never got around me! The run felt terrific, and the time slip proved that feeling, with a new world record for the 193V-240V SC/B class of 14.355 @ 95.20 mph! The crowd went nuts, according to Tom, and when I returned to recharge, there was a whole group hanging out waiting for the electric car to return.... I'm thinking I can get the car into the 13's again with this present setup. I'll try a few ideas out, and let you all know how things shake out."
  4. 10-17 PIR Drags "I want to thank Otmar for tuning up my early model Zilla, what a BIG difference! The twin 8 inch motors now deliver serious torque that is instantaneous with my right foot action, and absolutely amazes the gasser crowd as White Zombie simply boils off the line. Gone is the wimpy launch, now replaced with a 'stomach wrenching' type launch that most of the time, has me with my hands full as I try to keep the car straight off the blocks! On the stickier starts the car was probably turning 0-60 in the mid to high 3's. On the two launches where the tires stuck hard, the acceleration was so sudden that the ignition key and dangling red NEDRA-required plastic 'flag' flew out of the ign. switch lock at the same time I was rudely slammed into the seat!"
  5. "Godzilla #3 is still performing well, and other than a recent tune up, has never, ever, failed....ever! I'd like to say that his controller has been tortured under Plasma Boy duty, but the truth is, everything 'behind' the controller has been tortured...snapped-off transmission input shafts, mangled drivelines, smoked clutches, twisted-off axles, vaporized rear end gears, blown batteries, melted cables, welded contactors, melted motors.... I could go on, but through it all at 1400 amps and up to 336V, the controller has been the one thing I can't seem to break!"