We Did It!!
By Andy Marsh @ EVMOTORCYCLE.ORG
On Friday 12th March 2010 team Catavolt set the World Record for a Modified Partial Streamlined Electric Motorcycle and the Australian Land Speed Record for an Electric Vehicle on the Australian Salt Lake event, Speed Week 2010.
The Catavolt bike saw speeds of 72mph during testing on a 72 Volt system but broke the 110mph barrier when run on 144 Volts. Not bad for a forklift motor running at six times its rated voltage limit! The 48 volt Nissan electric forklift motor was expertly rewound to 24 volts (yes 24 volts) by Kenshaw Electrical at Newcastle. Under load the Odyssey 925 lead acid batteries fed the Curtis Controller with the 400 amps required to propel the bike and rider to over 110mph.
Mixing it with the petrol and nitro heads on the salt was an experience in itself. When the bike finally broke the 110mph barrier the recommendations of extension leads and speakers with V-Twin soundtracks were replaced with congratulations and a barrage of questions about the bike. Even the audacious ‘Animal’ offered words of encouragement and wisdom with the classic “May the course be with you!”
The course was indeed ‘with’ Kearon de Clouet as on the final day the conditions were perfect for the 110mph run. Kearon eased the throttle on and passed the first time marker at over 100mph. The second marker showed 110mph. After returning to the pits it took several hours before Kearon could lose that EV Grin.
Also on the salt were the Fast Sparks team from Bathurst who achieved 97mph on their Electric Kawasaki setting the record for a naked electric motorcycle. The Fast Sparks team were using Odyssey Lead Acid Batteries at 144volts. Both teams shared a pit area together and traded expertise and encouragement at the event.
Finally the bar has been set and the race is now on. Next year, electic motorcycle expert Jon Eggenhuizen promises 200mph+ and Catavolt team has a feeling that there will be a lot more electric teams on the salt for 2011.
We got a World Record!!
17/03/2010
