I hauled my Power Racing Series car RhomBUS up to the 2019 Ideal Farms Maker fest at I
Ideal Farm and garden center in Lafayette, NJ.
This was my third year attending this event and it has grown considerably year over year. The event this year hosted a blacksmith, educational tech talks on a variety of topics, and my favorite – pumpkin trebuchets!
It’s my hunch that the race here this year served as a geographical proxy for the abruptly cancelled New York Maker Faire for many teams. Many of the individuals I spoke with mentioned the extreme disappointment upon hearing NY World MakerFaire was cancelled. There were 12 working teams in attendance. The track is unlike the others – it’s on dirt, grass and gravel and the drifting was superb in this environment. Who doesn’t enjoy a little cart drifting?
Upgrades
I added a 48V to 12V buck converter to my power series race car and used this to power a brushless 12V electronics fan in order to cool the speed controller which had overheated inside the ammo box at the Atlanta race. (An attachment fastener is missing in this video clip)
Results
The new brushless motor setup combined with the cooling fan worked excellent. My car was finally starting to be quasi competitive. I occasionally pass a racer or two! The first race I had transponder issues but believe I came in fourth or fifth place. Much to my surprise I came in 3rd on the second race of the day and got my first legit podium appearance! For the third race of the day I had two collisions on the track and my speed controller was acting abnormally and I was unable to finish the race.
