Last updated 2000.06.10
Once again, the weather co-operated with us. It was a beautiful, clear sunny day, with an occasional fair-weather cloud, and a steady breeze to keep things cool. There were close to 20 vehicles taking part in the event; 4 in the Open class, the EVCO demonstration vehicle and over a dozen from high schools throughout Ontario.
The day started just after 7:00 a.m. with a bustle of well-orchestrated activity. The parking lot was sectioned off to provide areas for displays, team support vehicles and regular parking. Tables, signs and canopies went up for volunteer and team registration areas. Volunteers registered and set about their appointed duties. Teams got registered and moved their vehicles into the inspection area. Inspections were carried out efficiently and thoroughly by members of the Ottawa Chapter of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE). Vehicles were admitted onto the track for test laps under the watchful eye of officials from the Motorsport Club of Ottawa (MCO), the track having been swept earlier by an electric tractor. A group of Amateur Radio operators (Hams) provided on-site communications between various officials. The Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police shift supervisor arrived, followed later by the constable and radar unit volunteered to support the issuing of "speeding tickets" to the competitors. The Rideau Nautical Modelers set up their pool for the all-electric, radio control model boats, and the water truck appeared on cue to fill it. Display vehicles arrived and took up their places in the display area, including 2 Ford Ranger EV electric pickups and a Honda Insight supplied by Transport Canada. Through all this activity, various members of the Electric Vehicle Council of Ottawa were manning the EVCO booth and co-ordinating a number of other less visible, but still important, activities.
Vehicles in the display area included:
A 1915 Milburn electric car
A 1974 Auranthetic electric motorcycle
Two 1970's vintage General Electric Elec-Trak electric tractors
A 1976 CitiCar electric car
A Lectric Leopard (Renault 5 conversion) electric car
A Dutton (Lotus 7 look-alike) conversion
A 1986 Pontiac Fiero conversion
Two VW Jetta conversions
Two 1998 Ford Ranger EV electric pickup trucks
Two 2000 Honda Insights (gasoline-electric hybrids)
A 2000 Mazda Miata conversion
An electric bicycle
The roster of competitors expanded as three teams which had not registered in advance appeared at the pit gate over the course of the morning.
Unfortunately, the ambulance promised by St. John Ambulance, and required to be on-site before the competition could begin, did not appear as scheduled, which caused officials to start juggling the schedule.
The period for inspection laps was extended, and meetings for drivers and officials were delayed slightly, and the inspection area closed. To fill in time, the demonstration laps of the display vehicles (originally scheduled to take place between heats), was moved forward.
The various display vehicles were put onto the track, one at a time, so the hundreds of spectators could see them in operation. The display vehicles completed their laps and were removed from the track, but still no ambulance.
Eventually, 30 minutes after the second heat should have started and still no sign of the ambulance, it was agreed to change the format of the competition to put a single vehicle on the track at a time (to meet insurance rules given the ambulance had not appeared). A meeting of the teams was quickly assembled, and the change in plan announced. After a brief discussion, it was agreed the format would be a flying 4-lap run, and the winner would be the vehicle with the shortest elapsed time for the 4-laps. While this was a great disappointment to all concerned, as this (a sprint) is essentially the opposite of what the vehicles were designed for (endurance), the teams displayed great spirit in accepting this dramatic turn of events, and hustled their vehicles to the track entrance lane. Officials adjusted quickly to the change, and the first vehicle was released onto the track within a few minutes. Subsequent vehicles were released onto the track in quick succession until all those that had passed inspection had their turn.
The awards ceremony included trophies (thanks to Paul's Pro Korner of Kanata for really helping us out with the trophies), certificates and cheques totaling $900 were presented to the participants. That is above and beyond the $750 awarded to high school teams by Mitel for excellence in planning (out of a total of $2,500 that was available). We are grateful to Mitel, Gloucester Hydro, Kanata Hydro, Nepean Hydro, Ottawa Hydro, REV Consultants and Econogics for their sponsorships and support which provided the funding for rental of the facility, our insurance premium, prize money, printing of the event program, the feeding of our volunteers and participants, and generally making this event possible. We also want to thank Exide Canada for offering batteries to our registered teams at very friendly prices, and to CineReal Pro Video for videotaping the event and the production of event videos to be available in a few months.
Finally, a huge thank you to all of the more than 100 volunteers who demonstrated patience, flexibility, creativity, good humour and tremendous talents of many kinds in helping us stage this event and keep things rolling as plans were modified throughout the course of the day, and all the participants, who showed us where the real energy for the future will come from - the team members themselves.
As the contest finally ended up being a 4-lap event on a 3/8's mile track, the times shown (minutes:seconds) in the results are for a 1.5 mile run, approximately 2.4 km.
First Place - Trophy plus $100
Equipe Court-Circuit
Time: 2:40 (average speed: 60 km/h)
Second Place - Trophy plus $75
Equipe Propultron
Time: 3:19
Third Place - Trophy plus $50
Vincent's Black Shadow Racing
Time: 5:06 (despite a stop to fix a slipped chain)
Did Not Qualify
K. Ishikawa
First Place - Trophy plus $100
Courtice High School
Time: 2:56 (average speed: 56.25 km/h)
Second Place - Trophy plus $75
Woodroffe High School - Carbonita
Time: 3:01
Third Place - Trophy plus $50
Earl of March High School
Time: 3:07
Fourth Place
Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute
Time: 3:10
Fifth Place
Arnprior District High School
Time: 3:19
Sixth Place
Sharbot Lake Secondary School
Time: 3:25
Seventh Place (tie)
Almonte and District High School
Time: 3:31
Seventh Place (tie)
R.S. McLaughlin Collegiate and Vocational Institute
Time: 3:31
Ninth Place
St. Francis Xavier Catholic High School
Time: 3:55
Tenth Place
Brookfield High School
Time: 4:44
Eleventh Place (tie)
Woodroffe High School - SMO
Time: 5:35
Eleventh Place (tie)
Osgoode Township High School
Time: 5:35
Did Not Finish
Seaway District High School
Did Not Start
Mother Teresa High School
Did Not Appear
St. Peter Catholic High School
The EVCO Demonstration vehicle did not participate in order to speed up the proceedings.
IEE Faraday Award
Econogics Albert McMahon Memorial Award
Phileas Fogg Award
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