Furze Platt Greenpower Racing

Race of Champions May 2005

The day of the Race Champions finally arrived, and the Turbo Tortoise was taken to the Goodwood Racing Circuit with high expectations of getting the elusive 180 mile Platinum Award.  We knew we would be up against the cream of Greenpower cars so everything would have to go well for us to get a good result. 

The bubble was cleaned and the car passed scrutineering, it was decided to take a few practice laps. This was a wise decision as it showed up a small fault in the motor power relay circuit which resulted in the motor cutting out.  The circuit was quickly adjusted and all was hoped to be OK for the race as practice time was now up and we couldn’t try it. A sun shield was also fitted to the inside of the bubble to help keep the driver cool in the bright sunshine. 

The cars went out to the Grid and the heat built up for the driver whilst waiting for the starting gun. Once under way the breeze through the hole in the front of the bubble and the occasional splash of water from the motor water cooling bottles kept the drivers cool. At the end of the first lap it appeared that the electrical fault had been fixed, but it was obvious the other cars were closer than they had in the 2004 final so everything would have to be perfect to stay ahead. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t, and a rain shower resulted in a spin which resulted in the thermal trip going due to being in the wrong gear. This allowed the chasing cars to overtake whilst the trip cooled, leaving us in 4th place.  At the first pit stop, one of the water cooling pipes got a hole made in it which had to be taped up to stop the leak, this was re-taped every driver change to make sure the water kept going to the cooling coils.  

The weather improved and the second driver picked up speed allowing us to regain the lead. He also broke his lap record set last summer and also had a spin but was already in a lower gear and managed to keep the car moving without the trip going. When he came in he reported the track was very greasy when wet and he had to free wheel round Woodcote corner. The third driver then took to the track and lowered the lap record again and again, the final lap record lap was an average speed of 38 MPH! It was decided that he should slow down a bit as we were getting worried the batteries would not last the whole race, even though he did look spectacular coming down Lavent Straight at 44 mph and flicking through the chicane. Our fourth driver took over and stayed at what was considered a more sustainable speed, at this point over the PA system we heard that the forward predictions were for a distance approaching 200 miles, far further than anyone in the team thought ‘TT’ could go. Could the batteries last, such a large distance?

The 3rd driver was back in the car again for a second stint having assured us that he was following the over current warning light set to 30AMPS and that his fast times were down to a good racing line and the lack of traffic, so the speed went up again. After extending the lead still further he came in and our last driver took over for the sixth hour. She was told that the batteries looked good and  could go as fast as she wanted to, so ended up breaking last years lap record for good measure doing a 3:55 lap and finished on a 4:03 going over the line flat out. 

The car behaved perfectly during the race, the weather being the only problem making the track greasy in the early part of the race. The pit crew worked brilliantly, being extremely well organized, which showed in the pit times, which including the drive in and out of the pit averaged at 1:20 min:sec, much better than the 3:30 min:sec plus that we had been doing in earlier races. 

Could ‘TT’ go further or faster? There was some life left in the batteries so maybe another couple of laps are possible if the weather was perfect and no spins occurred. To go faster might be possible with bigger gears, but that would probably reduce the maximum distance. Making the car lighter could help with both possibilities. 

Congratulations to all the other teams that succeeded in beating their targets and good luck to those who will want to try again in the coming season.

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Last modified: 08/06/09