A different kind of motorcycle.

Post #290,004 by a6l6e6x 7/29/07 3:34:26 PM Reply	A different kind of motorcycle. [link\|http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070729/electric_dragsters.html?.v=1\|AP via Biz Yahoo]: Straddling a 619-pound motorcycle, Scotty Pollacheck tucks in his knees and lowers his head as he waits for the green light. When he revs the engine, there's no roar. The bike moves so fast that within seconds all that's visible is a faint red taillight melting in the distance. Pollacheck crosses the quarter-mile marker doing 156 mph; he's traveled 1,320 feet in 8.22 seconds, faster than any of the gas-powered cars, trucks or motorcycles that have raced in the drag sprints on this weekend at Portland International Raceway. It's particularly impressive given Pollacheck is riding a vehicle that uses no gasoline and is powered entirely by lithium-ion batteries. Electric vehicles are making their presence felt at amateur drag races across the country, challenging gas-powered cars and motorcycles. The "amp heads," computer geeks and tree-hugging environmentalists driving the electron-powered vehicles are starting to kick some major rear end. This will never take off. Unless, of course, it comes with multi KW amps and speakers playing loud engine noises. :) Alex Nobody has a more sacred obligation to obey the law than those who make the law. -- Sophocles (496? - 406 BCE)
Post #290,006 by Another Scott 7/29/07 4:54:23 PM Reply	:-)
Post #290,008 by JayMehaffey 7/29/07 5:07:45 PM Reply	It will probably take over in sprint racing Electrics will probably take over in sprint racing pretty quickly. Electric motors have better torque at low speeds, giving them an advantage off the line. In short distance sprint racing that is key. And if you know you only need enough power to run for a mile or so, you can get away with a very small battery. It will be a while before they have a place in endurance racing mind you. jay
Post #290,037 by Ashton 7/30/07 4:24:33 PM Reply	Bitchin! Hmmmmm - 1) Find the very-most-Likely monopolist for rilly-Keen Li-Ion battery production and er, Invest. Luck figuring out which present contenders shall succumb to terminal greed at a next techno decision-point, eh? (Like.. say, relying on Chinese/Microsoft-grade QC to stamp out thousands of small bombs, kill another major river -- but rilly Cheap. (On that first order, before the sub-contractor is hanged.)) 2) F=MA is all ye know and all ye Need to know. (After you find the closest rubberish-formula to emulate a rack-and-pinion connection to the surface.) Already.. F=\ufffdN as the classical 'Normal' force in all those physics tests re 'friction' -- is long gone; that model never gets ya past One measley G!) 3) I want.. I Want: A light-material casting of a Vincent Black Shadow/Lightning engine (which is also part of the chassis) chock-full o'them cute lil LiIons, the gearbox guts replaced with a motor, cooled like a flash-boiler with water mist -- to keep it together for the requisite 1320' + just-enough to decel to 0. Think of the FUN to show up on a 55 yo Classic indistinguishable from normal, and whup some ass? And Yeahhhh.. nice stealth recording of V-twin sounds would be funner yet - if there's room, after all those batteries..? ('Course, on tire-size alone, however clever the rubber mix -- it couldn't fly with the Big Stuff. Still - - - -) Now THAT's what some of these folk with more $$ stashed than they could spend in a century at WalMart O' the World via 24/7 cel-fone orders -- Could do for infotainment. If any of these $obsessed-MBAslugs had the imagination of a 5 yo. But nope: all. they. Know. is boring-more --> More --> MOST, secreted away in those digital account tallies. Can't even wallow in chests of gold coins on the weekends, anymore!

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