dewalt tools : The new power

Until the weather decided not to cooperate, Route 66 Raceway had been the designated setting for a very unusual attempt to set a new world speed record.

It's not like Funny Car King John Force and the rest of the NHRA haven't already put this quarter-mile into the record book. It's just that Bill Dube' (that's pronounced Dew-Bay) planned to do it without the aid of an internal combustion engine.

Dube' was scheduled to rent an RV and drive from Denver to Joliet, his first trip to Illinois, to be a part of today's Midwest Alternative Fuel Vehicle Expo, co-sponsored by the raceway and Joliet Township High School. Unfortunately, officials were forced Friday to cancel the event because of inclement weather.

Competing in the "High Voltage Nationals," Dube' was hoping his "Killacycle," which already holds the record as the world's fastest electric racer, could top the quarter-mile mark of 9.450 seconds (152.07 mph) that he set in six years ago.

Dube' had hoped to make at least three runs to "warm up" his special Lithium-Ion batteries. His plan was to send 340 volts to a direct-drive electric that would rewrite the record book and give designated rocket-jockey Scott Pollacheck all he could handle on the super-smooth Route 66 racing surface.

Why was Dube' so optimistic about a new milestone in electric racing? "Like we always say, it's in the battery," he explained earlier this week. "I have a brand new sponsor, A123 Systems batteries. The company is based in Massachusetts and this particular product was developed in partnership with MIT."

Of course, Dube' doesn't take anyone else's word for the performance of parts that go onto his bike. He says he "tortured" the batteries until he was confident that they could hold up. "There wasn't a Lithium-Ion battery that I couldn't turn into a road flare — until these came along," he said.

Dube' used to pilot the Killacycle himself, but he now explains that reducing the weight of the bike can cost thousands of dollars. Reducing the weight of the driver by 70 pounds was as easy as asking to the 121-pound Pollacheck to take a ride.

Pollacheck competes with standard motorcycles in other drag-racing action and he would have faced the same issue that would have confounded most fans at today's event.

"The hardest thing to get used to is how quiet it is," said electric dragster driver John Embe of Lockport. "When I go down the track, I can actually hear the fans in the stands. I hear the reaction they have to just how quick — and how quiet — these cars can be."

Embe, a retired machinist, has been racing for the past seven years and has turned times in the 11-second range, topping 110 mph. He does it with 28 12-volt batteries that, arranged in series, create 336 volts. That power goes to a 280-pound electric motor.

How would that compare to, say, a Dodge Viper, with its 12-cylinder engine, coupled with a six-speed manual transmission? Well, the Viper would make more noise and maybe turn more heads, but the factory-stock Dodge would be left in Embe's exhaust — if there was any. Viper times are usually in the 12-second range, with a top speed of 164.

Creating this kind of electric drag racer is not a simple matter of assembling the right custom speed parts. Dube', who designed and built his machine, calls the process "a marriage between state-of-the-art battery technology and old-fashioned 'do-it-in-the-garage' workmanship." His first bike previously was powered by 126 14-amp-hour motorcycle starting batteries. Each battery weighed 11 pounds, but they put out 900 amps during a run down the strip.

"The new batteries haven't been officially tested, but our practice runs were very promising," Dube' said. "This company built its reputation making those rechargeable batteries for DeWalt power tools. And the quality is definitely there. I've tested hundreds of cells and they are within one-one-hundreth of a volt of each other.

The Killacycle team includes Dube'; Pollacheck; Steve Ciciora, who focuses on electronics design; Derek Barger, whose specialties include metal fabrication, and Dave "Battery Boy" Hawkins.

Dube's passion for making the most of electricity is matched by Embe, who notes that he retired from his machine shop in order to make his hobby his "non-profit profession." "I guess it's still a hobby, but it's a hobby you can get in and drive — and you can drive right by the gas stations," he said.

He enjoys talking about racing, but his focus is on converting gas-powered cars to electric power for commuters. Those cars tend to have a top speed of 50 or 60 and a range of 50 miles between recharging sessions.

"It will take some new technology in the construction of the batteries before we can extend the range," he said. "But we're learning things on the time on the dragstrip. We've raced all across the country and you learn a lot just talking to some of the other racers."

By Dennis Yohnka