FFE at 2014 Refuel Track Day

[magudaman]

7/20/14 was the 2014 Refuel event that has electric cars go around the famous Laguna Seca race track with no experience or required instructor. This year it turned out a ton of Model S and Roadsters with a couple of Fits, Leafs, RAV4s, and Fiats but I was the only FFE.
Once I got out on the track the car handled great and held it own with many of the other beginners there. In fact I actually got to pass a BMW Active E and a Tesla Model S. They did have me in the straights but were not taking the corners as fast. My best lap time after two sessions (didn't stay for the last one because of commute to home) was 2:17. Compared to the best I saw on the transponder board was 1:58, not bad for eco tires and only 140hp.

The setup was three 15 minute track sessions with as many laps as you could muster in that time period. I was able to do 5 laps per session.

Charging was not too much trouble and they had quite a few 14-50p outlets around running 208v. My first session out we were not allowed to pass and I was stuck behind really slow cars. During that I cooked through about 25% of my pack getting 352wh/mi. The next session I really got to keep the pedal floored and brake harder which yielded 683wh/mi! Burned through around 40% on that run with the same amount of laps.

I mentioned I didn't participate in the final session because it was scheduled for 5:50pm and I still needed to drive back home around 125mi. Including my 3hr charge break I was going to need to drive about 2.5hrs so I really didn't want to get home past midnight after running the track all day.

Overall I really enjoyed the experience and would encourage everyone that can make it next year to show up!

Sunrise on the way to the track

My Pro track day setup

Brammo came in full force with pro racers and everything!

Tesla brought in 4 super chargers for all the teslas that showed. It blew my mind home much power was being sucked down one unit let alone all 4 at the same time!

 

[hybridbear]

Thanks for sharing. Very cool!

 

[jmueller065]

Wow! Cool pics and looks like a lot of fun.

 

[EVA]

Oh you are so lucky. What a great day. Thanks for those pictures.

I am so envious of you being there. I so wanted to be there. Especially after I found out my sister and her son were there doing track days in the BMW spec series all weekend. She talked to a few of the Tesla guys - one that said they drove 15 hours one day and would never do that again. You have a picture of the guy from Florida that got a caravan together (the red white blue US sticker on his car).

So Jeff Gordon! I liked the 200 MPH tape on the hood line. Nicely done - anything to make the car slipperier.

That had to be so much fun to have the FFE out on a track.

So you didn't have any trouble with batteries overheating? No reduced speed due to overheated batteries? How was figuring out how fast you were going with no noise? Braking - how did that work out?

Hey what were your brake coach scores!!!!

Congratulations and thank you so much for posting the pictures.

 

[rabar10]

Saw your FFE out on the track -- was wondering if the driver would post here. Congrats! How did that under-steer treat you through those turns?

Also echoing others questions -- was there any power-limiting that was either shown on the dash or that you felt as you went around the track? I know that the Tesla Model S owners were running into a power limit before they completed one full lap going all-out (but their limited power is still more than the FFE has, heh)...

 

[magudaman]

Oh you are so lucky. What a great day. Thanks for those pictures.

I am so envious of you being there. I so wanted to be there. Especially after I found out my sister and her son were there doing track days in the BMW spec series all weekend. She talked to a few of the Tesla guys - one that said they drove 15 hours one day and would never do that again. You have a picture of the guy from Florida that got a caravan together (the red white blue US sticker on his car).

So Jeff Gordon! I liked the 200 MPH tape on the hood line. Nicely done - anything to make the car slipperier.

That had to be so much fun to have the FFE out on a track.

So you didn't have any trouble with batteries overheating? No reduced speed due to overheated batteries? How was figuring out how fast you were going with no noise? Braking - how did that work out?

Hey what were your brake coach scores!!!!

Congratulations and thank you so much for posting the pictures.

It was really a blast to have it on the track! The car handled great it was hard to keep it pegged in a couple areas of the track as fear or common sense set in. Heading up the hill toward the cork screw it felt like I needed about another 60hp or about 750lbs less weight, it just felt like it was creeping. Speed was pretty evident as they make us keep the front windows down for safety/emergency reasons. I did come to hot into the turn 11 hair pin and had to scrub some speed off over cutting with the tires.

I'm pretty sure I did very little regen on that hot set of laps. Every turn was braking as late as I could and quite hard. I didn't notice any fade or lose as I went around but I could smell my brakes when i got back to my tent, probably the first time they have been truly hot. I wish I had some braking scores but never got going slow enough to have them come up.

I don't believe I ever experienced any power limiting or the car just didn't tell me. I also didn't see a message telling me it was hot out side or anything indicating the batteries were cooking. In fact the TMS only ran for about 10 minutes before shutting off after that really hard 7.5kw in about 30 minutes set. I figured everything would have been real hot after that one. It was probably running the TMS as I went around.

In addition to my speed tape, I pulled my foor mats, rear seats completely, head rests, trunk cover, tire sealant and cover,120v EVSE, and all the loose crap I had in the console and glove box. It shaves off around 90lbs.

All around I really want to go again next year but I think I will trailer the car there, too much car time.

 

[v_traveller]

Cool! So did you hit the speed limiter at any time? If so, where and for how long?

 

[hybridbear]

I'm pretty sure I did very little regen on that hot set of laps. Every turn was braking as late as I could and quite hard. I didn't notice any fade or lose as I went around but I could smell my brakes when i got back to my tent, probably the first time they have been truly hot. I wish I had some braking scores but never got going slow enough to have them come up.

Did you happen to notice the brake score when you turned the car off? If not, check out your Trip Log in MFM. It stores your previous 30 trips and depending how much you've driven since you might be able to find the data in there.

 

[magudaman]

Cool! So did you hit the speed limiter at any time? If so, where and for how long?

Yes! In the straight past the finish line you had to keep it floored and it would peg out every time. It takes almost all my will power to go full speed in that straight because you can't see over a hump in the track that leads straight into a sharp turn!

I'm pretty sure I did very little regen on that hot set of laps. Every turn was braking as late as I could and quite hard. I didn't notice any fade or lose as I went around but I could smell my brakes when i got back to my tent, probably the first time they have been truly hot. I wish I had some braking scores but never got going slow enough to have them come up.

Did you happen to notice the brake score when you turned the car off? If not, check out your Trip Log in MFM. It stores your previous 30 trips and depending how much you've driven since you might be able to find the data in there.

I always forget about the online version of my ford mobile I wish I would have checked that and found out but sadly my information only goes back to about 7 days.

 

[epaminondas]

Wow - this is so cool! Do you know if any events like this are planned for Washington state?

 

[magudaman]

Wow - this is so cool! Do you know if any events like this are planned for Washington state?

Hmmm, I think this even is quite unique so far but it never hurts to try. The company that put on the Laguna Seca race is http://www.speedventures.com/. They are nice guys and know how to put on events like this.