Zombie History

---------------------------------------- 2003 LATE VERSION ----------------------------------------

  • 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:

    Added two more batteries and raised pack to 20, 12 volt Exide 'Orbital' 50 ahr @ 240V nominal. Total pack weight now up to 800 lbs.

  • Controller:

    Godzilla 1400 amp controller. Steering wheel thumb button for contactor controlled series-parallel shifting.

  • 12 volt system:

    Installed a rear-mounted 20 amp Todd PC20-LV DC-DC converter (see 'Batteries' photo above, and 'Other Mods' photo below) in the third battery tray next to the driver's side Blue Top Orbital, and tapped into 1/2 the pack voltage. Retained the twin small 7 ahr Exide AGM 12V batteries under the hood as a 12V system back-up supply.

  • Other Mods:

    (1) 'Suck Amps' skull logos applied to doors for the best Halloween effect! Special thanks to EV drag racing friend Rod Wilde for permission to use his outrageous piston crushing skull logo.

    (2) Team member Marko Mongillo artfully built a light weight aluminum third battery tray for the trunk area that spanned over the spare tire well batteries:

    With the new battery tray in place, we mounted two more batteries (to go up to 240 volts), one at each end of the tray with empty spots in between for future upgrades to even more batteries. A Todd DC-DC converter was mounted in this same tray. The pack's high 240V potential was above the voltage limit of this DC-DC, so it was operated off one half the pack and only plugged into the nearby socket after the car was taken off the charger.

    (3) With the high powered Manzanita Micro PFC charger, dump charging was no longer being used. Removed the rear plate mounted Bubba contactor and the split pack high current cables.

    Car weight:

    2475 lbs. (est)

  • Races and EVents

    10-24-2003 PIR Drags...best ET of 13.771 @ 97.36 mph

    10-31-03 Halloween Drags...best ET of 13.931 @ 96.55 mph

  • Carnage:

    None, but c-cold temps in the 30s, bad traction conditions, and unequalized batteries gave poor results.

  • Plasmaboy Quotes:

    (1) Post 10-24 PIR Drags, 216V version..."The new BF Goodrich 'G Force' TA Drag Radials are aptly named! These things are stick-eee! Last weekend, without them, traction was a problem...that's not a problem any more! Now with these impressive drag tires, every single run of the night...all 7 of them, produced 1.8-something 60 ft. times...problem solved! The 1/8 mile times were unchanged from the two quickest ones from last weekend, too, so it looks like the taller ratio effect of such bigger diameter tires did not negatively affect the off line or 1/8 mile acceleration...perfect! The hole shot launches were particularly strong, and even against quicker machines running 12's, White Zombie dusted them off the line and through most of the 1/8 mile!"

    (2) Post 10-24 PIR Drags..."Next weekend (weather permitting), the final weekend of racing, there will be two more Orbitals added to make up a 240V pack and an 80 lb. increase in weight, but there should be more hp on tap to push the car into the triple digit speed zone and deeper into the 13's."

    (3) Halloween PIR Drags..."The 2nd and final Zombie run occurred at 11:45. A 2002-2003 model year, bright yellow Mustang was my competitor in the night's heads up racing style. It was immaculate, lowered a bit, had trick wheels, and was looking to kick my ass. It did a great burnout, I just staged and waited. Afterwards, I would hear all about how the fans in the stands were speculating how the race would turn out, and how they all went 'Whoooahhh!!" when the little electric Datsun smoked the Mustang! Long story short...an almost identical run as the first, with a 13.931 @ 96.55 mph. Oh yeah, the Mustang ran 14.217 @96.97 mph. Perhaps ten younger guys came over to check out the Mustang eliminator. One kid was particularly impressed, saying, "That was unbelievable! You left him off the line and stayed ahead of him. I just saw an electric car blow off a V8 Mustang.....I just can't believe this!" I looked at him and asked what he'd say the next time someone made fun of slow electric cars in front of him...his answer?...."Oh, this is a night I'll never forget. I'll put 'em straight."