For the 2005-06 competition year, a group of students decided to prototype a new class of electrathon vehicle. We called it the Electric Street Racer. We followed all of the safety rules of the normal electrathon vehicles, but then opened the door to the rest of the design.

The first design change we started with was to design a four wheeled, street legal tired chassis. We actually saved money by using four street legal golf cart tires and rims over our three normal bicycle rim assemblies. These tires could also handle a much higher side loading and offer more traction.

Another design change was to manufacture a fully independent front and rear suspension system. This was a challenge in itself. Students designed both the front and rear sub frame so that they can be unbolted from the main chassis. This makes the ESR much easier to move about. One of the toughest parts was locating 6.5” drive shafts for the rear, which came from ELBE drive shaft from Germany. The rear sub frame assembly uses a Peerless differential which we cut the axles and installed the drive shaft flanges from Machine Service in Green Bay. The students designed the rear sprocket and centrally located brake rotor, but the parts were CNC’d by EMT International in Green Bay.

The idea to mount the shocks horizontally came from the students researching various suspension designs on the internet. Two of the their inspirations came from both Lee Stohr and Dennis Palatov, two leading race car chassis designers and manufacturers. The students wish to express their thanks to these two gentlemen in motivating them.

So, everyone wants to know how fast it went? Within the competitions we were limited to 35 MPH, but we did do some track testing at Preble at the end of the year. Once again, the limiting factor was traction. The Briggs & Stratton ETEK provides so much torque, students were having trouble keeping the tires from spinning on the corners if too much throttle was used. Top speed, under EXTREMELY high safety conditions, was 47 MPH. We did not do straight line top speed tests. In regards to how well the ESR handles, it did set the maneuverability course record at the 2006 Fox Valley Technical College’s Electrathon competition, even with the ESR running an extremely tall gear ratio! Since it was a prototype, the time was not allowed for competition.

After the 2005-06 competition year, this chassis has been retired. We are now in the process of completing a new chassis design that is both lighter, faster, stronger and easier to manufacture.

Motor: Briggs & Stratton ETEK
Transmission: Direct Drive 3:1 up to 5.11: 1 gear ratio
Motor Controller: Curtis 1204-001 running 48 volts
Batteries: Interstate Batteries DC30
Tires: American Racing 205/55- 10
Rims: Cast Aluminum Golf Cart
Front Hubs: Northern Tool
Brakes: Custom CNC’d rotor with a hydraulic caliper, with mechanical caliper backup
Shocks: Cane Creek AD-5 on the front, Rock Shock Areo in the rear
Chassis: ¾” and 1” square steel tube, 16 gage, with Aluminum diamond plate filler panels