1998 EVCO Electrathon - Official Web Page

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Event Results | Map to Site | 1999 EVCO Electrathon

Last updated 2018.01.28

We want to offer a special thank you to the over 60 volunteers who took part in organizing and staging this event. Also our sponsors who provided cash, materials and other support. Without them, it would not have been possible, let alone such a great success!

The vehicles are speeding around the track, drivers coaxing their machines to deliver all the performance possible. The pit crews watch anxiously for any sign of trouble with their cars, preparing for the final scheduled pit stop and driver change. In just minutes the checkered flag will be raised in the culmination of months of effort by the teams. Spectators are enthralled by the on-track action, and yet something is missing - noxious pollutants and deafening engine noise. Despite the quiet, the atmosphere is electric, and so are the small race cars - Electrathon class racers.

This will be the scene at the 1998 EVCO Electrathon, where high school teams will match their design and construction skills and months of effort against teams from other schools where it counts - on the track!

The objective of the Electrathon contest is to travel as far as possible in one-hour in a single-seater vehicle using only the energy available from approximately 30 kilograms of lead-acid batteries. The vehicles must comply with a set of rules (e.g. 3 or more wheels, safety devices). Creativity in the design and construction of the vehicles is encouraged. The Electrathon cars are much like the solar cars that take part of international competitions, except that they do not have the (expensive) solar panels, allowing them to be constructed on limited budgets. Like larger on-road electric cars, the Electrathon cars produce no air pollution in operation, and can be virtually silent.

The 1998 EVCO Electrathon was organized and partially sponsored by EVCO (the Electric Vehicle Council of Ottawa). EVCO, in conjunction with REV Consultants and Zevco, designed and built a demonstration prototype Electrathon vehicle. Local high schools in the Eastern Ontario/Western Quebec area were invited to build Electrathon vehicles to participate in the 1998 EVCO Electrathon.
Photograph of the EVCO Electrathon demonstration vehicle - colour (25 k).

The following teams took part in our event:

High School Electrathon Class (HSEC)

[Web page no longer exists: http://www.renfrew.edu.on.ca/sec/ADH/red/index.html">Arnprior District High School] (Arnprior, ON) (#747) Image (colour 30K)
Bishop Smith Catholic High School (Pembroke, ON) (#16) Image (colour 52K)
Brookfield High School (Ottawa, ON) (#13) Image (colour 41K)
Glengarry District High School (Alexandria, ON) (#3) Image (colour 47K)
Merivale High School (Nepean, ON) (#11) Image (colour 44K)
St. Matthew High School (Gloucester, ON) (#17) Image (colour 47K)
St. Peter High School (Orleans, ON) (#12) Image (colour 46K)
Woodroffe High School (Ottawa, ON) (#15) Image (colour 33K)

Demonstration-Open Class (DOC)

Frank Urbaniak (Brampton, ON) (#35) Image (colour 20K)

EVCO Vehicle at the Electrathon (colour 30K)

The 1998 EVCO Electrathon was held at the Capital City Speedway on Saturday, May 30, 1998.

Ottawa Citizen article, Friday February 28, 1997 (and photo)

Information about other Electrathon and similar events

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