It was mission accomplished for Entropy Racing EVSR, the first all-electric car to compete at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. The team now can add “completed” too.
“We’re not Ford Motor Co. We’re not Audi. We’re just this tiny little shop in Sacramento, Pa., that came up with this idea in conjunction with an old customer,” said team owner Charlie Greenhaus. “We came here as the first EV team to effectively run a long endurance race at competitive speeds. We achieved that goal.”
Coming into the endurance race, the team estimated it would have to swap the two 350-pound batteries every nine to 11 laps, but it ended up with an efficient 14 laps per battery change. Thunderhill Raceway set the team up with a charging station near the entrance to the track, allowing the team to shuttle the batteries back and forth using a heavy-duty cart.
A few hours into the race on Saturday, the motor was running hot because the ambient air temperature was above 64 degrees Fahrenheit. The crew used distilled water to cool the motor and the 11-hour fog delay cooled it even further.
“This was not our most challenging race by any stretch. The buildup to it was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done in my career and probably the most rewarding,” Greenhaus said. “The pace for the race was significantly slower because we were managing temperature. But with this same car, with some modification, we believe we could run a sub 2:10 pace for an entire 25 hour race.”
The team finished 29th overall out of 36 cars.
