BadFishRacing 
Electric Motorsports
History of BadFishRacing
Michigan Tech FutureCar 1996
During my senior year at Michigan Tech, I got involved with FutureCar. This was a competition in which 12 universities competeted to build the best high mileage car. Our donor vehicle was a Dodge Intrepid. We built a series hybrid with 1.0L Suzuki engine driving a Fisher alternator. This kept the 333V pack of Johnson Controls batteries topped off. Power went to the ground through a Unique Mobility bushless DC motor.
During my senior year at Michigan Tech, I got involved with FutureCar. This was a competition in which 12 universities competeted to build the best high mileage car. Our donor vehicle was a Dodge Intrepid. We built a series hybrid with 1.0L Suzuki engine driving a Fisher alternator. This kept the 333V pack of Johnson Controls batteries topped off. Power went to the ground through a Unique Mobility bushless DC motor.
Street Bike 1998-1999
My first personal project started out as a 350 Honda. This was a heavy crude beast, but I learned a thing or two. She had 3 wet deep cycle marine batteries. Controller was a refurbished Curtis. Motor was a old Celma golf cart motor that I freshened up with new insulation, a new bearing, and a spliced brush lead. Top speed was about 28 MPH. It made a few trips around my neighborhood, but never got any real street time.
My first personal project started out as a 350 Honda. This was a heavy crude beast, but I learned a thing or two. She had 3 wet deep cycle marine batteries. Controller was a refurbished Curtis. Motor was a old Celma golf cart motor that I freshened up with new insulation, a new bearing, and a spliced brush lead. Top speed was about 28 MPH. It made a few trips around my neighborhood, but never got any real street time.
Pit Scooter 2001-2002
Once the street bike was parted out, I needed a use for the Curtis controller. Asked a friend of mine where I might find a board scooter, and he gave me one! An ebay motor, some surplus sprockets, and a few UPS batteries completed the system. Even this low level of power, or maybe the mild speeds, was too much for the plastic rear wheel, and it got pretty wobbley.
Once the street bike was parted out, I needed a use for the Curtis controller. Asked a friend of mine where I might find a board scooter, and he gave me one! An ebay motor, some surplus sprockets, and a few UPS batteries completed the system. Even this low level of power, or maybe the mild speeds, was too much for the plastic rear wheel, and it got pretty wobbley.
Scootercross Scooter 2007-2008
Before we headed to the Florida 'Battery Beach Burnout', I decided to throw together a vehicle for the scootercross competition. No sense driving cross country for only the drag race. A bud gave me a scooter. Of course the batteries were toast. And it wasn't going to win any races with a stock controller. So I duct taped two Hawkers to the deck, wired in a contactor, and of course a safety disconnect.
Before we headed to the Florida 'Battery Beach Burnout', I decided to throw together a vehicle for the scootercross competition. No sense driving cross country for only the drag race. A bud gave me a scooter. Of course the batteries were toast. And it wasn't going to win any races with a stock controller. So I duct taped two Hawkers to the deck, wired in a contactor, and of course a safety disconnect.
Piranha DragBike 2001-2009
After my experience with the Hybrid Intrepid, and the street bike, I heard about the National Electric Drag Racing Association. This sounded like just the sport for me. I researched the existing records, did some homework, and got some ideas together. I started building the bike, knowing that the closest race that was every held was a two day drive away. But that didn't discourage me. I found a Chaparral dirt bike at a swap meet, and the Piranha was born.
After my experience with the Hybrid Intrepid, and the street bike, I heard about the National Electric Drag Racing Association. This sounded like just the sport for me. I researched the existing records, did some homework, and got some ideas together. I started building the bike, knowing that the closest race that was every held was a two day drive away. But that didn't discourage me. I found a Chaparral dirt bike at a swap meet, and the Piranha was born.
2001 Season
I started out with an Ohio permanent magnet motor that had an internal spline to drive a hydraulic pump. I pressed and welded a keyed shaft into the motor, and mounted it in the frame. I used parallel/series switching of the batteries to deliver 24 and 48 volts to the motor through a few golf cart contactors. I didn't skimp on batteries, and went for 16ah Hawker Genesis batteries. Then when the bike was about 50% complete, I heard about a new NEDRA race in Maryland, only about 8 hours away. I rushed to finish the bike, and that summer set out for my first NEDRA race. In 2001 I took the 48V motorcycle record, 12.something in the 1/8th mile.
RACES Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - 1st Place 96 volts and under
I started out with an Ohio permanent magnet motor that had an internal spline to drive a hydraulic pump. I pressed and welded a keyed shaft into the motor, and mounted it in the frame. I used parallel/series switching of the batteries to deliver 24 and 48 volts to the motor through a few golf cart contactors. I didn't skimp on batteries, and went for 16ah Hawker Genesis batteries. Then when the bike was about 50% complete, I heard about a new NEDRA race in Maryland, only about 8 hours away. I rushed to finish the bike, and that summer set out for my first NEDRA race. In 2001 I took the 48V motorcycle record, 12.something in the 1/8th mile.
RACES Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - 1st Place 96 volts and under
2002 Season
By 2002, I had already lost the 48V NEDRA record, so I was thinking up new ways to go quicker. I added a bigger rear tire, thinking the knobby dirt tires went the best idea. Did a few weight reductions, and went back to the track.
RACES Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - 1st Place 96 volts and under
By 2002, I had already lost the 48V NEDRA record, so I was thinking up new ways to go quicker. I added a bigger rear tire, thinking the knobby dirt tires went the best idea. Did a few weight reductions, and went back to the track.
RACES Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - 1st Place 96 volts and under
2003 Season
For 2003, I found out about a new light and powerful motor, the Etek. And if one was good, two would be even better. This time I added a custom 1200A controller that had run in a junior dragster. Also, since I now had two motor, I added series/parallel motor switching for high torque off the line, and high speed in the top end. The gold aluminum wheel looked cool too. But while the motors were working well, the batteries were now the weak link.
RACES Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - 1st Place Motorcycle
For 2003, I found out about a new light and powerful motor, the Etek. And if one was good, two would be even better. This time I added a custom 1200A controller that had run in a junior dragster. Also, since I now had two motor, I added series/parallel motor switching for high torque off the line, and high speed in the top end. The gold aluminum wheel looked cool too. But while the motors were working well, the batteries were now the weak link.
RACES Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - 1st Place Motorcycle
2004 Season
In 2004, I dumped the 16ah hawkers in favor of twin 48V strings of 13ah hawkers. When warmed up, the twin strings put out 1200 amps. Also new for this season was the data acquisition system, monitoring battery volts and amps. An unfortunate incident with the controller turned me back to using just series/parallel motor switching. This was enough to retake the 48V NEDRA record with a 9.51 in the 1/8th mile.
RACES Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - 1st Place Motorcycle
In 2004, I dumped the 16ah hawkers in favor of twin 48V strings of 13ah hawkers. When warmed up, the twin strings put out 1200 amps. Also new for this season was the data acquisition system, monitoring battery volts and amps. An unfortunate incident with the controller turned me back to using just series/parallel motor switching. This was enough to retake the 48V NEDRA record with a 9.51 in the 1/8th mile.
RACES Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - 1st Place Motorcycle
2005 Season
For 2005, I found that there was any way to get any more performance out of this setup. Since I wanted to stay in the 48V class, I needed another way to squeeze more power out of my drivetrain. The answer was a two speed transmission. This one ran with a sprag clutch for 1st gear, while 2nd gear was engaged with an electric clutch. The added weight and mechanical losses still needed to be overcome before it went any quicker.
RACES Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - 1st Place Motorcycle
For 2005, I found that there was any way to get any more performance out of this setup. Since I wanted to stay in the 48V class, I needed another way to squeeze more power out of my drivetrain. The answer was a two speed transmission. This one ran with a sprag clutch for 1st gear, while 2nd gear was engaged with an electric clutch. The added weight and mechanical losses still needed to be overcome before it went any quicker.
RACES Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - 1st Place Motorcycle
2006 Season
In 2006, I looked at little go fast tricks, but nothing did the trick. Several gearing changes were tried, but nothing inproved the ETs. I did add better body work, and better YSR50 front forks.
RACES High Voltage Nationals - Joliet Illinios- Rainout
Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - 1st Place Motorcycle
In 2006, I looked at little go fast tricks, but nothing did the trick. Several gearing changes were tried, but nothing inproved the ETs. I did add better body work, and better YSR50 front forks.
RACES High Voltage Nationals - Joliet Illinios- Rainout
Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - 1st Place Motorcycle
2007 Season
In 2007, I realized that there weren't any easy ways to go quicker at 48 volts. So I stepped up to the 96 volt class, simply using 1 string of 8 hawkers, instead of the 2 parallel strings of 4 hawkers. The idea was that the motors would be happier at higher volts an lower amps. The wheelie bars were added, as there was a heck of a lot more torque once I regeared for the higher motor RPM.
RACES Battery Beach Burnout - West Palm Beach Florida - 1st Place Motorcyle
Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - Rainout
In 2007, I realized that there weren't any easy ways to go quicker at 48 volts. So I stepped up to the 96 volt class, simply using 1 string of 8 hawkers, instead of the 2 parallel strings of 4 hawkers. The idea was that the motors would be happier at higher volts an lower amps. The wheelie bars were added, as there was a heck of a lot more torque once I regeared for the higher motor RPM.
RACES Battery Beach Burnout - West Palm Beach Florida - 1st Place Motorcyle
Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - Rainout
2008 Season
Frustrated with a microproessor failure that shortened the 2007 season, I added two more batteries, for a 120 volt system. This proved to be too much for the Etek motor, as I spun the shaft on the armature.
RACES Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - 3rd Place Motorcycle
Frustrated with a microproessor failure that shortened the 2007 season, I added two more batteries, for a 120 volt system. This proved to be too much for the Etek motor, as I spun the shaft on the armature.
RACES Power of DC - Hagerstown Maryland - 3rd Place Motorcycle
2009 Season
With one Etek toast, I moved up to an L91 Advanced DC motor. This motor reacted a lot differently to the transmission, so several gear combinations were experimented with.
RACES North Coast NEDRA Drags - Salem Ohio - 3rd Place Motorcycle
With one Etek toast, I moved up to an L91 Advanced DC motor. This motor reacted a lot differently to the transmission, so several gear combinations were experimented with.
RACES North Coast NEDRA Drags - Salem Ohio - 3rd Place Motorcycle
With the move into electric garden tractor pulling, I moved my time and resources out of the bike. This bike still holds the 48V NEDRA motorcycle record set back in 2004.
