"Big Daddy" Don Garlits & a Tesla S at the drag strip.

[George Papabeis]

In April of 2014 I was approached to film Don Garlits in his new electric dragster the SR-37 (Swamp Rat) at the Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida. He was attempting to set the record at 200MPH. I scrambled to to keep six cameras going in very hot and humid conditions. In between runs Don "discovered" Shaun Lawless's Tesla "S" and ended up doing half a dozen runs down the track. Direct quote from Don; "It's pretty fast for an electric car!". One of his Tesla runs is @ 2:09 in the movie link below:

Don Garlits SR37 Quest for 200MPH on Batteries - YouTube

Don ended up with best time of 184MPH that day. Not bad for an 84 year old youngster.

 

[gdavison]

Thanks for sharing the video, respect to the guys for doing it .. I was puzzled at the projects "goal" ie "Quest for 200mph on batteries" and the T-Shirt slogans

As it has already been done (ie 200mph on Batteries)

FIA World Landspeed record for an EV weighing under 999Kilos at 204.185 mph, set back in 2013

Or for outright speed and ignoring max vehicle weight restriction, the Ohio state University project "Buckeye Bullet" which set FIA speed at 307.666 mph back in 2009

Both the above are average speed over a standard measured mile, completed both ways, 2nd run having to be done within 15 mins of first run.

I am guessing this project is much more focusing on hitting a 200mph top speed at the end of the 1/4 mile - Drayson did the 1/4 mile in 9.742 seconds, well slower than the 7.258 seconds of this run

Great to see motorsport pushing EV tech along

 

[George Papabeis]

gdavison,

I think the "goal" was to do it in a dragster at a dragstrip. Don Garlits is a living legend in the US. SR-37 (Swamp Rat 37) is his 37th dragster... much history... I've filmed three other days of trials and have some excellent footage stored on my drives. Not 200mph yet, they still are sorting out the "wires". I'll post the results.

 

[George Papabeis]

gdavison,

I did a bit more research on the subject... the records are for the NEDRA (National Electric Drag Racing Association). They have a number of different classes/voltage divisions:

National Electric Drag Racing Association - NEDRA Handbook

A quick look at the class records shows Lawless EVs well established in a number of records:

National Electric Drag Racing Association - Record Holders

Hence the T-shirt bravado.