News from Denmark - a new DMC/E record set at Mosten Raceday

September 3, 2012

The following is a translation of the leading Danish on-line technical media, Ingeniøren, article written after interviewing Hans on Monday. There are a few errors in the translation.

In order to advance to the finals in the class Super Competition Bike at Mosten Race Days drag race on Djursland Silver Bullitt must be in the top-5, and True Cousins ??got sixth place, with time 6.135 seconds to travel over eighth mil (200 meters). Cousins had changed up a lot on their vehicle before the start. Since last test run in Malmö a month ago, 96 volts was changed to 144 volts and during the course of the weekend they went from 850x2 amps to 1000x2 amps.

But in the first qualifying round Hans-Henrik Thomsen made a small mistake at the throttle (launch button double activated), so the round was less than optimal.
For the take-off, Glenn Nielsen, True Cousins, have made a launch button that goes from 0-100 percent power at 200 milliseconds. But because the cousins ??had decided to go from 850x2 amps to 1000x2 amps, would even it if it was activated at 200 milliseconds, be too risky for the controller. A quick solution with an angle grinder and tape, was marked how hard Hans-Henrik was turning the throttle to hit 80 percent, then release it and then give full throttle to get a smooth start.

But the start failed to the cousins annoyance in the first qualifying round, and time was 6.4 seconds.

0.3 seconds faster than they would otherwise have driven the route with 96 volts, but it was not successful enough to True Cousins ??would use the time to set the record for 144 volt class.

In the second qualifying round the cousinscut additional 0.3 seconds of time. They set the world record for 144 volt class to 6.135 seconds to travel over 200 meters. It was, as I said just enough for a sixth place in the Super Competition Bike. Not enough to go to the finals, third qualifying round was canceled due to lack of time. They needed however a second run to back up the record run.

But Silver Bullitt had already attracted so much attention to the Mosten Raceday spectators that the waiver was granted, and cousins ??were allowed to run a race more - but in Show Class. Here they cut 0.1 seconds of the previous time. They ran 201 meters in 6.049 seconds.

But the record technically NEDRA (National Electrical Drag Racing Association) to record shall be backed by a subsequent race with a time within 1 percent of the former. Hence, the True Cousins ??record of 6.135 seconds, since 6.049 was "too quick" to be the record.

All in all, True Cousins ??are happy with the weekend, although they didn't went on to the finals. They beat a lot of records for motor bikes. Among other things, they got the record for 201 meters drag with 144 volts, they came in 100 miles per hour club, and set a unique record from Mc Cruisecontrol.dk's dynometer.
"Another great victory is that we had no problems with electrical noise controllers, and that is what we otherwise tend to be afraid when we go over 1000 amps," says Hans-Henrik Thomsen.

Dynometer had to be rescaled
Spectator seats were packed, and Hans-Henrik Thomsen believes there has been between 10-15.000 spectators at Mosten Raceday. Also some of Ingeniørens readers had made their way to the True Cousins' Silver Bullitts in the pits.

Ove Christensen from Mc Cruisecontrol.dk made his dynometer available, so the cousins ??could measure motor torque and HP. It is a roll, which the motorcycle can be milled in the rear tire, and thereby measure the torque of the motor. A bit like a treadmill just for motorcycles.

According to Hans Henrik Thomsen, we usually measure a standard motorcycle at about 1000 cubic to have a torque of about 160 Nm at 10-12000 rpm. minute. But because Silver Bullit has electric motor, it does not operate with so many revolutions per minute, and dynometret could not initially track in on it. After a rescaling of the measuring equipment was Silver Bullit measured at 684 newton meters.
"And there is not even track bite (the sticky mixture of resin and rubber, which is used to prepare drag race-tracks) on the roll, so we did spin the reel. I think we were probably 800 newton meters, "says Hans-Henrik Thomsen.

Electricity must be recognized
One of the reasons that True Cousins ??set so many records and repeatedly beat them again, of course, is in addition to skilled engineering and driving skills, they are pioneers in using electricity as propulsion.

There is simply no other in Denmark and Europe, which makes what they do. Therefore, there is hardly rules, requirements or specifications for their vehicle when they need to make up for a race like Mosten Raceday (apart from those of NEDRA).

But True Cousins?is trying to change this:
"This weekend we also had talked with Palle Lind from DMU (Danish Motor Union) and he has promised that he will have introduced electricity as legal propels in a number of classes that can be put up in the drag race," says Hans-Henrik Thomsen.
The hope is so that together they can get together and find out under what conditions it can be done.
"But now that we have run in class Super Bike Competition this year, so we will also be allowed next year. And hopefully there will also be several classes where it is allowed to run with electricity, "says Hans-Henrik Thomsen.

Uniform drive ensures victory
"Next year we hope we can come back and win the class. For we can set the controllers to run 5.5-second times. " (the break out time)

The difference of a gasoline engine and an electric motor is that there are substantially fewer mechanical parts of an electric motor, which can swing out.

"It's like in physics. If you have fewer parameters, it lowers the complexity, "he says.
The electric motor True Cousins?use avail itself of controllers and battery power that causes the shaft to drive around. The petrol engine is a much longer series of sub-systems: fueling, ignition, transmission, different tuning systems, etc., each of which can cause fluctuations that adversely affect run time.

"With electric motors we will be seeing the races will be settled perhaps in hundredths of seconds rather than tenths of today. You can simply set the controllers to run at a certain speed, high repeatability, "says Hans Henrik Thomsen.

Therefore True Cousins recon they have good chances to win the race next year.