TTXGP - AU at Wakefield Oct 8-9

[markcycle]

The last round of the series

Chris crashed twice in practice landing on the Angi motors and wound up having to race on one motor
Same field of three
Qualifying times for the first race
Catavolt took poll position
http://www.computime.com.au/meetings...FX11_5_Q01.pdf

The first race saw Ripperton turn up the current in his motor which got him across the finish line first but the motor smoked and he is done for the weekend as is Chris/Voltron
Results of race one
http://www.computime.com.au/meetings...FX11_5_R06.pdf

Catavolt has won the 7.5 class TTXGP AU series

Since all the competitors are out Catavolt is going to try for the lap record today (Sunday)

[lugnut]

Thanks for the report. Nothing on the web site yet. I guess Ripperton takes the AUS GP championship and Voltron takes the AUS 75 championship ???? Kudos to them for the hard work and dedication. Let's hope TTXGP can muster up fuller grids next season, worldwide.

[markcycle]

I'm still trying to figure it out but for sure Catavolt has singularly won the AUS75 class. It's not just about finishing first but also surviving the stresses of racing and building a bike that can handle the track.

Voltron had handling issues that caused him to crash twice in practice and this destroyed one of his motors. I don't understand why he pushed his bike in practice on a wet track - twice.

Jon, EnerTrac and others put our effort, time and money into the Catavolt bike so it would cross the finish line, even when we knew we weren't the fastest.
All the details will come out in time but as you can see Catavolt had the fastest qualifier, so Ripperton upped the current setting on his controller, most likely knowing he would overstress his motor and he did, it burnt out.

We ran conservative for the race, I got this data in a email this morning on motor temps
I ran the motor with the controller at 30% each finished the race and the winding were only 110deg and 90deg the magnets were 60deg.

Catavolt wasn't entered in the GP class but since Ripperton didn't race in half the races for the season, I don't know how that plays.

Anyway this is my take on the situation.

One thing I take away from the whole TTXGP experience is that all the top bikes, Mission motors, Brammo, Lighting, Motorzzz, and others, they didn't replace motors/controllers every race. They built bikes to stand up to the rigors of racing and set there systems up to last from race to race. Every motor can be pushed till it burns out and in these short races it's possible to get results and data that in no way represents how these motors will perform in the real world.

I for one wanted to demonstrate the EnerTrac motors in the style of the big boys (listed above) and at the end of the day have a machine that at a very real level represented what one could ride every day. I also know Jon wants to build motorcycles based on this experience and not just win races.

[lugnut]

I'm still trying to figure it out but for sure Catavolt has singularly won the AUS75 class. It's not just about finishing first but also surviving the stresses of racing and building a bike that can handle the track.

It's about points. I see 70 points for Voltron and 65 points for Catavolt. From http://www.egrandprix.com/results.php and http://www.computime.com.au/meetings...FX11_5_R06.pdf But from the Euro series, we know TTXGP does not follow established convention in awarding championships :-)

[teddillard]

Yep, just saw this on their FB page:
Jason topped the weekend off with an electric Track record 1:19.5 just before the rain came in. Thats 1 sec faster than the TTXGP class.

This link, too: http://www.formula-xtreme.com.au/xtr...2!OpenDocument

SWEET! Mark, you should be very proud!

Very interesting comments on the build theories, too. I remember a buddy of mine worked in the Skip Barber Racing School garage, it's the first time I realized those cars only have to last one race, they get completely torn down after.

[markcycle]

Nothing like waking up to good news
The trick was making the bike lighter. Before Wakefield, Jon shed 12AH of battery he wasn't using, from 40 to 32AH at 144volts losing I think 60Kg of weight.
If we had the time and money to go Lipo instead of Headway LIFEO4, the bike would have been much much faster. Catavolt is the only race bike to still use tin can cells and there associated weight penalty. We talk and emailed back and forth about weight and how much power is needed for the races. On one side you never want to run out of energy but if you carry to much it can also slow you down. The In Wheel motor frees up so much space that one can go overboard in carrying batteries for short races.

What I find really gratifying is that the weight of the In wheel motor didn't affect handling in any overwhelming way, Jason was still able to take turns hard even on bumpy rough surfaces. Jon setup a new shock for the bike and was able to engineer a suspension solution that worked well for the wheel.

[SplinterOz]

It was a great win for Catavolt, the trophies were handed out on Sunday and due to the classes and everything else I will only give you the overall.
Catavolt won the weekend and the Championship.

There is an interesting lesson to learn from the racing over here in Australia. The biggest problem all three bikes had was not batteries, electronics or bike dynamics. Each of them were fighting with motor issues for the whole season. The performance on each bike was limited by the heat dissipation capabilities of each motor setup. (Voltron also had balance issues between the two motors however even when balanced the current was limited to prevent over heating)

However the way each team handled that was different and really only one mechanism worked. Like Catavolt, Ripperton redesigned the motor and/or motor cooling between each round to improve cooling.
But the difference, Jon the owner/builder of Catavolt was not the rider! Jon hooked up the temp sensors on the motor and configured the controller to cut power when the motor got hot. Neither Chris or Daniel with their rider hats on wanted anything to take power from them while they were racing.

That meant that the Catavolt bike completed every race, but only won one (and that was the flying lap on Sunday not really a formal race).
Two take-aways from this:
1. if you want the championship finish every race
2. don't let the rider in you overtake the protection of the bike.

Voltron Flying past at about 154km/h

Wakefield Races 01 by Splinter, on Flickr

Catavolt and Ripperton fighting it out in the first race

Wakefield Races 05 by Splinter, on Flickr

Catavolt on it's flying lap top speed 141km/h

Wakefield Races 11 by Splinter, on Flickr

Presentation night

Wakefield Races 13 by Splinter, on Flickr

[lugnut]

Catavolt won the weekend and the Championship.

It just doesn't add up. Ripperton crosses the finish line first. But he is running in the GP class. Then Catavolt, gets 25 points for first in the F75 class. Add to their 40 points from the first 2 races, they total 65 points. Voltron crosses the finish line 3rd, but 2nd in the F75 class and collects 20 points. Add to their previous earned 50 and they total 70 points. Voltron with 70 points is more than 65 points for Catavolt. How does Catavolt take the championship? Oh yeah, it is TTXGP :-(

[SplinterOz]

Look the whole this is a bit strange. I believe that they also counted Sunday as a Win for Catavolt and DNS for the other bikes. Really I can't figure out the points system at all.

The thing to remember however is that here it is called eFXC/TTXGP maybe we have just seen the eFX Championship. ??

If you look here we have the Championship points for the eFXC...
http://www.formula-xtreme.com.au/xtr...5?OpenDocument

eFXC points at the end of Round 1

• Catavolt 42
• Voltron 22
• Ripperton 50

eFXC Points at Rnd 2 (Winton)

• Catavolt 22, 22
• Voltron 25, 25
• Ripperton 0, 0

eFXC at the end of Rd 2

• Catavolt 86
• Voltron 72
• Ripperton 50

eFXC Round 3 (Wakefield)

• Catavolt 22, 25
• Voltron 20, 0
• Ripperton 25, 0

eFXC Points at Rnd 3 (Wakefield) and for the year

• Catavolt 133
• Voltron 92
• Ripperton 75

So Jon and Jason with the Catavolt is the clear winner.

However the TTXGP takes the best result for the weekend.
So the points look like this....
TTXGP Class
Ripperton - Rnd 1 - 25, Rnd 2 - 0, Rnd 3 - 25, TOTAL 50


TTX75 Class
Voltron - Rnd 1 - 25, Rnd 2 - 25, Rnd 3 - 20, TOTAL 70
Catavolt - Rnd 1 - 20, Rnd 2 - 20, Rnd 3 -25(?), TOTAL 65
(this is directly from the TTXGP site but it does seem wrong. Catavolt and Voltron won one race each day so Rnd 1 should have been 25 points for both)
So TTX75 should be a draw.


So this year in Australia everyone won!!!
Catavolt won the eFXC
Ripperton won the TTXGP
Voltron won the TTX75




Confused?!? I know I am.

[teddillard]

Didn't really even have time to read it this morning, but Jon sent me the press release:
http://evmc2.wordpress.com/2011/10/1...-championship/