Event - REFUEL at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca 07/01/12

[palmermd]

The more I see the more I want one. Model S kicks butt on the track.

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Congratulations to nader for giving the Leaf a good showing.

[TonyWilliams]

The ladies know what's hot !!!

[tbleakne]

JeremyW, I am waiting to hear about your big face-off with the Nissan engineer at this event.
I am hoping he heard an earful about the lack of thermal management of the battery pack. Or did he not show ?

[TonyWilliams]

Trailer Queen:

[TonyWilliams]

Ok, I think I fixed the link now:

Laguna Seca, "Refuel 2012", July 1, 2012, 12:19pm group

[TonyWilliams]

How to install the new SAE combo plug, plus tow hook and timing transponder:


The guy who hooked me up at Laguna Seca. THANKS !!!!


Tesla Roadsters


Coda race car


Coda race interior

[TonyWilliams]

[TonyWilliams]

[TonyWilliams]

[JeremyW]

JeremyW, I am waiting to hear about your big face-off with the Nissan engineer at this event.
I am hoping he heard an earful about the lack of thermal management of the battery pack. Or did he not show ?

Oh no, he showed. No face off. As soon as I mentioned Arizona, he pretty much stopped talking to me. I did let him know at least two people were down two bars now. Sorry, wish I could give you more info. I did try to give him some gruff but he suddenly "had to take care of some things"...

Honestly, with the leafs quick charging and getting a staggering 1.5 mi/kWh on the course, these batteries didn't heat up much at all. Tony "lead foot" Williams quick charged after each event, and only got up to 7 temp bars. I can see now why they thought they could get away with out a thermal management system because driving doesn't put much stress on the pack. They must be very low resistance cells. There was a BMW with an overheated battery, and the Volts were mysteriously gone after the first practice run (although I see in the results at least two were in the TT). One of the conversions (with thundersky LiPO4's) apparently was having battery trouble too. There's no doubt that racing puts a lot of stress on the cars, and the leaf handled it with ease. I came away from the event more impressed with the Leaf.

I also learned the driver totally makes the course. I rode with Tony on the second practice run, and we got some great distance on one of the BMWs. Fix the nut behind the wheel before doing any mods. Well, maybe new tires first.