Pikes Peak race car Ep11 : We take it to a drag strip

It's time to see if our Tesla powered race car, BugZappa, can cope with full throttle and speeds above 30mph. This is the first time we've driven it with any gusto so fingers crossed it all stays in one piece. Don't forget that all the runs in this episode are at 65% power so the times are not indicative of where it'll be once we're happy to release the full power mode and see what it can REALLY do.
Before we take it to a full on track day we may well come back to Santa Pod for some full power, full throttle tests. Then once we're happy everything can cope with the power, we'll take it to a proper race track and start testing and tuning the real race car stuff, like suspension and brakes.
Thanks to Mouser Electronics and ADI for sponsoring this episode. More info on their great products below:
More about the ADI Wireless BMS: mou.sr/ADI-WMBS-ECC
More on ADI products: mou.sr/ADI-ECC
For newest products on Mouser: mou.sr/new

[@williamclark6466]

11 seconds while taking it easy and careful, then cold tires. Absolutely super!

[@tinman7551]

Wow. That third takeoff was amazing. That poor car was left behind you sputtering all the way down on his own. Nice work 😅😂

[@revidual]

The replica 'Two Lane Blacktop' primer '55 caught my eye, serious cash involved in that one.

[@MouserElec]

Nice car 😉

[@ElectricClassicCars]

Thanks for being our main sponsor. 🙏👍❤️

[@deanmcmanis9398]

Modern EVs are VERY consistent for drag racing. Particularly for bracket drag racing, where each car chooses a dial-in time before the race. The winner is the driver who gets closest to his dial-in time without breaking out (going quicker than the dial-in time). But there are many skill variables, as well as varying conditions (like temperature and track prep). There are special drag racing sessions called Test and Tune, for drivers to get their car properly tuned and set up to get the quickest times. This looks like it was a total success (given the conditions) where your EV race car was very consistent, quick, and importantly nothing broke. Kudos!

[@steveletson6616]

That was a very long winded way of saying that you don't know how bracket racing works. The winner is the vehicle that gets to the finish line first without breaking out. It could be an 8 second dial again a 10 second dial in car. But thanks for explaining that a test and tune is for testing and tuning.😂 Priceless.

[@jimcabezola3051]

There is TOO MUCH AWESOME in your car! I'd swear it even played the old ""THX Deep Note" movie sound intro as it accelerated! My hair stood on end! Thanks for keeping it at the slow end of 11s. Otherwise, I couldn't even follow it with my eyes.😆🤣 I can't remember why your white VW wears the number "56" on it. This OAP thinks it should be "53!" Too much "Herbie, the Love Bug" in my youth.😆🤣 Absolute success, this is! Aloha to all of you!

[@davidburne9477]

“Add lightness”. A principle I have implemented on my 84 Moto Guzzi rebuild. Eliminating the traditional loom in favour of a MotoGadget m.unit has eliminated about 4kgs of wiring weight. Ultimately I could even go to a smaller alternator now that I’ve implemented LED indicators, head and tail lights etc as I’ve dropped about over 100 volts from the running demand on the charging circuit. Loving your development of this car.

[@williamstachour4019]

Must be so gratifying to see all your work come to such a happy outcome. Cheers.

[@ElectricClassicCars]

Very!

[@peterduxbury927]

Next logical step: Put Wings on it, watch it fly! This is ECC R&D at work! Greetings from Sydney.

[@johnwoolf66]

Love the sound - like an old air raid siren winding up! 😎

[@mikedimaio1237]

Well if you did want to drag race the car, you have one hell of a bracket car. Very nice build, good luck with it.

[@joshuared1000]

Can't wait to see this fantastic car at Pikes Peak next year!!

[@faisal-ca]

You folks are doing an amazing job. I hope ICE to EV conversion becomes more common. More like kits being sold for specific models and conversions done at a reasonable cost.

[@briertonp]

Great job!! Looking forward to warmer days and 100% power!! 😎

[@ElectricClassicCars]

You and me both!

[@ivankuljis1780]

@@ElectricClassicCars It's gonna be a _BEAST_ up Pikes!

[@dangreasley7934]

Great video Richard. Wireless battery management definitely the way to go. Thanks for the simplistic way you explain all the settings. Who doesn't love a bit of engineering. Looking forward to seeing the wrap when that video drops.

[@NewZeroland]

Man what a beast!! It looked like a spaceship and sounded like one too. So flat, so stable. Bravo!! What an amazing build :D

[@bellofbelmont]

Really good footage. Thank you both for your efforts and sharing with us. I'm sure some of the petrol boys were a bit surprised by that bloody bug. 🤣🤣🤣 Jim Bell (Australia)

[@bryandickerson5365]

Another exciting milestone accomplished! The quality of ECC’s workmanship is evident. The wireless bms is also very interesting!

[@CrazedCrittic]

Arrow straight and out of the trap like a bullet out of a gun. Really impressive first outing and as for consistency - just wow! :)

[@keithsplish]

Truely a testament to your knowledge of electrification and its built from the ground up to boot. Great runs at only 70%, can't wait to see the track racing and see the results of your hard work and dedication to a new craft. EV racing is here to stay. Car looks and sounds amazing.

[@ElectricClassicCars]

Thank you!

[@marcioporto3584]

Hello, I'm talking about Brazil! I always follow the news and when I saw the video I thought the first returns were sensational in terms of the traction control setup and very good handling. I believe that now it's time to polish the details and then go against the clock. Congratulations

[@54mgtf22]

What a beast. Great job, Richard 👍

[@harrytolitsas1537]

Great work and more power to you.Cant wait for pikes

[@Raymund-Swales]

Very inspiring. Car looks awesome. Runs straight as a die. Sounds mental.

[@PaulM745]

That looks like a lot of fun!

[@72mardy]

That's a solid first outing mate 👍

[@thomasrump5930]

Propper run! Looking forward to next steps!

[@Cellestion]

So impressive, handled impeccably, hard to imagine what 3 seconds feels like 😁 very well done for a debut run

[@raysville7256]

Very impressive, your approach is solid.

[@ElectricClassicCars]

Thank you kindly!

[@tienenaar2295]

How cool would it be to have a sleeper BugZappa on the street to show off to Porsche's and Ferrari's :D

[@jasonblair4057]

Cool, we finally get to see it take a rip down the track. Looking pretty good.

[@Vintage_Volts]

Well done Richard, could wait to see this one and see how it performs! Live the sound out of it! Yeah one day when u can uncork it, it will be mad! Hhhmmm really wonder about the wrap😮

[@paulcocking2012]

Nice looking car. 2nd run would look better than beating a Cavalier😅

[@gafrers]

Looking so smooth and flowing without rear wing

[@willys4869]

Looks good. Making laps is going to be more telling on heat management. I have been watching you build this and was a little disappointed you didn't make the cut for Pikes Peak. Hopefully, I'll see you guys out there next year after you have got all the bugs worked out and some testing/ practice done.

[@joeg3950]

Fantastic!

[@garywesley7795]

Wow awesome car, looking forward to seeing it wrapped and run again. Great Job.

[@kelalamusic9258]

Wow, an electric Beatle. Love it.

[@robertfield5036]

Check out black current was an electric beetle that ran low 9s a few years ago

[@James_T_Quirk]

So Nice to See Windmills in Background, hope they had a Charger there for You & Bugzilla...

[@ElectricClassicCars]

No charger there yet but I think I’ll ask next time I go as to any plans for one. 👍

[@francesconicoletti2547]

@@ElectricClassicCarsso the obvious question is, how much battery charge did you have left after the day at the drag strip ?

[@ElectricClassicCars]

@@francesconicoletti2547About 60%

[@pantster9855]

definitely need a 3 position toggle switch to speed up switching between fwd, rwd and 4wd at the line

[@ElectricClassicCars]

True.

[@d1specdrifter]

Awd,not 4wd. There is a difference. What is the difference between AWD and 4WD? Both send power to all four of a vehicle's wheels, but AWD is more useful on paved roads or for light off-roading, while 4WD has a lot of off-road capability but limited usability on paved roads.

[@deltajohnny]

What a great work!!! 😍😍😍😍

[@4literv6]

That grey Chevy took me straight back to 2 lane blacktop! 👍🏻😎 Fun fact 55-57 chevies are near exact matches from a wheelbase&width comparison to a tesla model 3. Imagine buying a model 3 performance strip off all the stock body bits. Get licensed reproduction sheet metal for a 55-57 bel air shell and presto=10s elktromod. 😀

[@hamads.almagreby4926]

Great job ✌✌

[@rustedbeetle]

It looks so happy!

[@nathansuss]

Such a cool build!

[@PiDsPagePrototypes]

It'd be nice to see a like for like comparison, whether the wifi hardware is lighter then the cabling, and information on how it stays secure, and not influenced or disrupted by other wifi systems around it. One advantage it will have, is being able to issue fire depts with a wifi device that can shut down the battery from outside the vehicle in an emergency without a fire fighter being at risk.

[@ronbakker1300]

Wind powered super bug, cool 😊😊

[@busog97641]

*BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT!!!*

[@urbanstrencan]

Just crazy what you build 😂😂❤❤

[@stephensimpson5283]

Dude, you are next level pushing the boundary's. Small improvements slowly slowly! Stil want to see you do a Mini Moke. 😃

[@ElectricClassicCars]

Maybe one day!

[@EVCADDY]

Very impressive 1st outing 👍

[@MikesTropicalTech]

Great work with the car, good to see if living up to your expectations! It's good AD is making a wireless BMS chip, the wired one is Unobtanium for anybody wanting to build their own battery pack.

[@Skiridr22]

I have been waiting for this day for awhile now

[@ikocheratcr]

Nice to see Mouser as an sponsor. Sad that the AD products shown, there are no usable data sheets, only a brief. For the ADRF8800 they did not even mention the CPU architecture :(

[@ivankuljis1780]

@15:49 'Roundy Roundy' like a _Roundy Woundy_ Electric Motor!

[@giulianomarco]

Going round corners? My Dad's old mate Sergei treated every road as straight in his Saab in the 70s. 😋👍

[@ivankuljis1780]

@12:22 My favourite hole shot of the day! _ROCKETSHIP_ Flying towards the Future with the background of Windmills + Electrons

[@andypryke6750]

Brilliant, super stable

[@ElectricClassicCars]

It was a lot more stable than my road going Beetle that does 10.4 seconds. That car is a handful but BugZappa is straight as a die. 👍👍👍

[@chrisp4899]

Impressive

[@taurota1554]

Awesome

[@stemcleeds]

Almost as quick as a Cyber Truck

[@chargeheadsuk]

The heat will make plenty of difference. My Boosted Model 3 LR did a 11.9 at Santapod hoping to get that down to 11.7. Great vid guys. 💯⚡️🏁

[@ElectricClassicCars]

We’re there again tomorrow with full power. 👍

[@chargeheadsuk]

@@ElectricClassicCars gutted, im at the EV Rally tomorrow

[@shoestringfarm]

Rapid, it's only the first draft. Fine work if you ask me.

[@jamesellsworth9673]

Fine performance under stress by man and machine.

[@firststep7750]

I'd be interested in a road legal RHD version of this beetle.

[@jamesray9009]

love the battery mod

[@mrmawson2438]

That was fast and will be faster with some playing around cheers guys

[@Heiko881]

God Morning People. that was astonishing...

[@moestrei]

You pre-heat the tires but battery wants some pre-heat too.

[@paulbennett4548]

#56 wonderful times, must confess I was hoping for number 53 The Speed Love Bug............................................Get the mouse to back you :o)

[@Alrukitaf]

The Bug Zapper

[@alexmann3309]

Low 120mph indicates well under 500 wheel hp. Extremely cool car all the same!

[@mrmawson2438]

funking fast

[@mrmawson2438]

Don't brake it don't die simple 😂

[@RoeVenturesLLC]

8:58 Herbie Wins

[@cptkirkyoung3269]

At 70% power you getting 11s wow was just wondering where the windmills at the back used for charging it lol

[@GalenlevyPhoto]

If it’s got the full potential it could probably do mid 9s on drag tires. The 1020 hp Tesla model S could do 9.5 or so. The bug is a little lighter so maybe it’ll do a bit faster. We shall see.

[@4literv6]

A dual motor swapped factory five 919 went mid or low 9s before the pandemic happened. I think it weighed 3,100# or so? Like a 50kwh pack using phev minivan modules, with large rear drive unit&small front du crammed in. You can find the video on here search factory five TESLA.

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

Over 50mph your pushing more and more air out the way with the upright screened bug body ... So 0-60 will stay quick but 60-120+ will be having to work harder and draw more power than a more CD friendly form.. Smoothing details helps but so do things like Kamm tails. In a race the airs usually all Over the place untill you hit a straight and try taking the lead... So twisty circuits are probably best.

[@DaveAppleton]

Dude if I was doing 11.0's the wing mirrors would have come off, anything that's not 100% necessary inside would have been unbolted and left in the pits and every gap would have been taped up. Even if it's only a 10.99 it's still a 10 second run.

[@59vaughn]

Better be heating up a steak for the finish....😎

[@richardprydden2851]

need the right tires for drag racing really will knock a lot off the 60ft but wont do roundy roundy circuit stuff lol , you should enter some bracket racing it would do well .

[@markwilson9061]

Go on Moggy

[@RealBLAlley]

Time to go to 105 on the reactor.

[@IJayAmLegend]

So much potential! EV pun, I'll get my coat... Stay safe.

[@kipdennis3796]

Take it to carwow now!

[@markedwards4879]

5:29... I spy a 928... please do an episode on that with a Tesla drive unit!

[@Chris-bg8mk]

wubba lubba dub dub! ;-)

[@bumfie]

You should get on Hoonigan for a race they are also racing from Santa Pod

[@rushja]

The mk2 Cav comparison was funny

[@user-wj7id1zu7e]

The Mk3* Cav

[@rushja]

@@user-wj7id1zu7e oh yeah, you're quite right, I even had a Mk2 👴🏻

[@user-wj7id1zu7e]

It's all good 😊

[@zikzakfr]

It reminds me of the now very old White Zombie.

[@mrmawson2438]

BRB

[@keepitsimple693]

Cant wait to see this at 100

[@ElectricClassicCars]

Tomorrow we’ll find out what 100% does. 😎👍

[@plugpirate]

Yeh. Looking good, but don't round too many bends, as i had to get you out of the last one. Remember 😮😮😂😂

[@lezc3733]

Sounds like our old milk float 😅😅😅😂

[@MrHemlock51]

It doesn't sound like we'll be seeing Bug Zappa on the hill at Goodwood this year then ☹️

[@ElectricClassicCars]

I tried but they never responded to my email. 🤷‍♂️

[@rolandtb3]

At 70% power drives straight, consistent 11 secondish with front and rear burnouts. So next step is 80 to 90 % power? It was a cold day at the drag strip. Does the battery management software allow you to manipulate the temperature from a lower to higher or vice versa? Or do you have to plug in a manual heater or cooler front and rear to get a desired temperature?

[@ElectricClassicCars]

We’re going again this weekend and cranking it up to 100%. Let’s see what happens. We’ve concentrated so much on battery cooling we never thought about battery heating. 😁😆👍

[@robeigner4390]

11 sec at medium power is actually very fast! Great job. I hope the wireless BMS works but my car stereo connects to my iPhone using WiFi/Bluetooth and it regularly drops the signal. I've driven on the same freeway multiple times and my wireless connection drops at the same place on the highway. I know there are ways to kill cellular signals along with WiFi signals so have have to wonder whether these wireless BMS products can withstand the signal cancelling done by various organizations (like the police).

[@ElectricClassicCars]

Yep. Can’t wait to try it on full power now. 👍

[@radiomanjipeji]

what if you had separate traction control betwen front and rear ? traction control on rear to avoid zigzags and full power on front to grab the road …

[@FF-li6zj]

I am curious to see how wireless load balancing works.

[@jbmaru]

One more cool electric Beetle, congratulations. When was it, that you had 10 degrees?

[@deanwellerassociates]

Cracking build sir, looks like a strong race car...who are you going up against?