The Motorcycle Drag Racing Association has invited the KillaCycle to make exhibition passes at their event at Las Vegas drag strip on June 20th and June 21st. As always, we are out to set new NEDRA world records.

Please join us in Las Vegas and drop by to see the KillaCycle, (and us) in person. You are more than welcome to stop by and see us in the pits, take pictures, and take videos. If all goes well, you could see yet another world record!

We have just installed a Cummins-Onan Hybrid Quiet Diesel fully-automatic power system in our race trailer to allow us to recharge the KillaCycle with a low carbon footprint. We run this system on Blue Sun biodiesel fuel.

Since we are often “off-grid” in the pits at the race track, we need to be fully self-contained. This powerful, yet whisper-quiet, 8/10 kW hybrid power system lets us recharge the bike in 7 minutes. When we are not charging the bike, and the power demands are modest, the system switches over to the trailer battery bank and runs completely silently. The switch-over is 100% “bumpless” for the loads we have assigned to be uninterruptable. The system provides uninterrupted, clean, true sine wave power from the battery bank, the biodiesel-fueled generator, or from grid (”shore”) power comletely automatically.

If you have a home that is off the grid, running primarily on solar or wind energy, then this system is the perfect suppliment for those cloudy or windless periods. It will come on automatically (and very very quietly) when your battery bank gets too low or the peak demand exceeds your inverter capacity. It runs very nicely on biodiesel, so you can stay “green” while providing the back-up your solar or wind system sometimes needs.

Here is a photo of the components of the Cummins-Onan HQD System:
Cummins-Onan HQD System

You can see the entire installation process in the BioDiesel Power System album in our photo section.

Click on this link to learn more about the Cummin-Onan Hybrid Quiet Diesel systems.

The KillaCycle®, ridden by Scotty Pollacheck, made drag racing history AGAIN at Bandimere Speedway October 23rd, 2008. 7.89 seconds @ 168 MPH is a new official National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA) record and makes KillaCycle® the world’s quickest electric vehicle of any kind in the quarter mile! This was the very last run down the strip for this season at Bandimere. What a great way to finish the year.

Lightning struck twice on the mountain as we set the new mark for top speed in an earlier run that afternoon, 7.955 seconds@ 174.05 MPH. The M&H Racemaster tire really gripped the awesome track prep provided by Larry Crispe and the crew at Bandimere Speedway. We turned up the launch current to 1850 amps per motor, well beyond what we ever had before, and still did not slip the tire! (The all new temperature-controlled track surface provided the very best possible traction.)

Jim Husted at Hi-Torque Electric did his magic to the motors and they were able to withstand more RPM, current, and voltage from the battery pack than we thought was even possible. This is what delivered the “back half” performance that made the new top speed record possible.

The A123 Systems NanoPosphate batteries are changing the entire landscape for electric vehicles, and battery-powered devices in general.

The History Channel recorded it all that day. The footage will air early in 2009, perhaps February or March.

If you don’t want to wait that long for the professional footage, here is a video clip (digital camera) of the run

(You can go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVv0NVLFPig if the above link doesn’t load)

Nice write-up with a few more interesting facts added in click here on AutoBlogGreen.

Please visit the National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA) site to learn more about fast, exciting, and “green” drag racing.

We’re excited to announce the grand opening of our new online store at
www.killagear.bigcartel.com!

We are currently selling official KillaCycle® team tee shirts. We plan to have more products for sale in the near
future. Thanks for visiting!

Jim Husted at Hi-Torque Electric is the fellow that replaces the “magic smoke” in the KillaCycle® motors when we “let it out” by cramming to many amps, volts, watts, RPM, HP, etc. through the two 6.7 inch diameter motors that push the bike down the track at 168 MPH.

Jim and Bill at Hi-Torque Electric (Click on picture for a larger image)

Unbelievable as it may seem, the organizers of the Driving Sustainability Conference, with the help of IcelandAir airlines, are shipping the KillaCycle® to Reykjavik to show at the conference and race on the one and only dragstrip in Iceland.

The crating folks from CraTek came by this morning to take measurments for the bike, the pack, and the support equipment. (I highly recommend these folks. They work fast, make a top-quality crate that will get your goods there undamaged, and their prices are very competitive.)

We will be there from September 13th though the 22nd keeping our fingers crossed (and “holding our thumbs” as they say in that part of the world) hoping for a favorable weather window to run the bike on the strip.

The KillaCycle® will be on display at the conference and I will give a presentation on the design of high-performance electric vehicles.

See you there!

(This will be lots of fun. They have awesome geysers and stuff….)

The KillaCycle will be running exihibition at the All Harley Drag Racing Association, Northwest Nationals at Woodburn, Oregon on August 23rd and 24th. We will arrive on the afternoon or Friday, August 22nd and we might make a test pass that evening between 3 PM and 7 PM, depending on how smoothly the trip from Denver goes.

Woodburn is a fast track and we will be set up identically to what we were in Pomona when we ran a 7.824 @ 168 MPH.

Drop by the pits, chat, and have a cool drink on us. Buy a KillaCycle T-shirt prehaps.

The KillaCycle will be racing at the All Harley Drag Racing Association “Southern Nationals” in Altlanta Georgia at the Altlanta Dragway on May 23rd though May 25th. (May 23rd will be test sessions.) We have made some improvements (we think) in the motors, so we are hoping to go just a touch faster this time.

We will also be displaying the KillaCycle at the Advanced Automotive Battery and Ultracapacitor Conference and Symposia in Tampa, Fl from May 12th through May 16th in the A123Systems booth.

See you there!

Bill D.

PS

We can’t afford a new one, but we really need a Toy Hauler (low profile, 30 ft or less) to go to these long distance events. A short (like 28 ft) 5th wheel or gooseneck would be ideal, but a trailer style would work OK
We will guarantee that it gets on national TV!

The KillaCycle made drag racing history at Pomona this weekend when we became the FIRST electric-powered vehicle to make a SEVEN-SECOND PASS in the 1/4 mile.

The 186 lbs of A123 Systems Nanophosphate cells were all warmed up and ready to deliver the 500 HP they were designed to. We had been having some trouble getting this insane amount of HP to link to the track, so we were trying out a new brand of tire (27″ x 10″ M&H Racemaster) Our bet paid off when the bike linked up hard to the cold track and posted our best ever 60 ft time (1.14).

The bleachers were quite full with folks that were waiting to see the KillaCycle make a pass. The bike sped by the stands, the only sound being the growl of the tire clawing for a grip on the cold track. I knew it was a fast run, but we all were completely blown away when the board lit up with 7.82 @ 168 mph.

The spectators didn’t clap or cheer, but, simultaneously, let out a revenant, hushed, low-pitched “whooooa” when the board lit up. They too were completely awed and nonplussed by the historic event that we all had just witnessed.

The stars aligned for us, but we could not have done this without the support and encouragement of the Jonah at A123 Systems, Jim Husted at Hi-Torque Electric, John at M&H tire, Bob at NSK Bearings, Rich at Manzanita Micro, Otmar at Cafe Electric, Steve and Derek at Denver CNC, and John Bruszenski.

We also want to sincerely thank the All Harley Drag Racing Association for their continued support and encouragement of our racing program.

Video by Susan Lefebire here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHtAkM3CYLA

timeslip picture here:
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s196/SueBriMegJake1/DSC00199photo.jpg

A few pictures and eye-witness write-up here:
http://futuredrive.wordpress.com/2007/11/12/on-the-scene-killacycle-breaks-its-own-world-record/

Fantastic pictures from the event at HotRodHotLineBIKES at:
http://www.hotrodhotlinebikes.com/builder/2007/07billdubekillacycle/

More information about it on the NEDRA web page!