Ohio State Electric Car Team Hopes to Avenge Last Year's Bad Luck at APS Electrics
4 March 1998
The Ohio State University Formula Lightning electric race team is set to compete against 12 other universities in the APS Electrics at Firebird International Raceway located in Chandler, Arizona on March 6 - 8. The Smokin' Buckeye, which is capable of 140+ MPH, will enter the race with a three race winning streak and back-to-back ABB University Spec Series Championships.In last year's APS Electrics, the Ohio State entry proved to be the car to beat during the entire weekend on the scenic 1.1-mile road course. The Smokin' Buckeye, driven by professional race car driver Craig Taylor set a new track record during qualifying and had a dominating win in the 14-lap heat race. However, the Buckeye's luck ran out during the 28-lap feature race. In this race, Taylor once again established a commanding lead, but experienced a series of problems throughout the event. After the first pit stop for a fresh set of batteries, the latch for the left sidepod failed, which caused it to open once back on the track. An initial repair did not solve the problem so a second unscheduled pit stop was required. Meanwhile, second gear broke and the car's controller was overheating which caused the car to lose power. Despite these setbacks the Smokin' Buckeye managed to finish third.
This year, the team is looking to avenge the bad luck experienced during the feature race. Current team leader Alan Ida anticipates a strong showing at Firebird given the team's impressive performances last season. "I feel very confident about our chances this year at Firebird," said Ida, an undergraduate industrial systems and engineering student." "We were very competitive there last year and in 1996 when we won both the heat and feature events. Our car set-up should be pretty good despite not getting as much testing time as we would have liked with the new Yokohama Nexus tires."
1998 APS ELECTRICS TEAM ACTIVITY SCHEDULE
Thursday March 5 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM Pit stop competition at Arizona Center Friday March 6 3:40 PM - 5:00 PM Practice at Firebird International Raceway Saturday March 7 11:00 AM - 11:20 AM Practice at Firebird International Raceway 11:40 AM - 12:10 PM Practice at Firebird International Raceway 1:30 PM - 2:00 PM 25K Heat Race at Firebird International Raceway Sunday March 8 11:30 AM - 11:45 AM Practice at Firebird International Raceway 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM 50K Feature Race Firebird International Raceway
http://turbo.eng.ohio-state.edu/lightning