Power Racing Series
Contents
LVL1 Hackerspace's Official Power Racing Series Team!
LVL1 has had a reasonably rich history with the Pow-Pow-Powerwheels Racing Series. Cars Have been raced in at least Detroit since 2013.
For updated race rules and information: try the PRS website!
Curious for details? Want to help?
Come by any Thursday evening to see what's going on!
Contact: Jared
2019
Barmie is being torn down and the frame will become the chassis for the 2019 Barbie "Cruising Tunes" Jeep. Jim dropped new on facebook on 2/13/19 of the tentative race schedule:
- (subject to change)
- MF Miami: April 6-7 (17 hours away)
- Bay Area MF: May 18-19 (38 hours away)
- MF Kansas City: June 22-23 (8 hours away)
- MF Detroit: July 27-28 (6 hours away)
- MF New York: September 21-22 (12 hours away)
- MF Milwaukee: September 28-29 (6 hours away)
- MF Atlanta: October 27-28 (7 hours away)
- MF Orlando: November 9-10 (14 hours away)
We'll be talking at the next PRS meeting on 2/14/19 about which races we're going to try to go to this weekend, as well as what presence we'll have at Maker Faire Louisville 2019
- also of note: Chicago Mini MakerFaire: May 4, 2019
2018
The Official PRS people posted this youtube video about the 2018 series.
Potential Race Schedule
Races we went to:
- North-Side Chicago Mini Makerfaire - May 5. An Exposition. Bumblebee lost a wheel and PS1 gave us replacement small red ones.
- Maker Faire Kansas City - June 23-24. 4 karts made a showing and none of them worked well. Bumblebee died for the season.
- Fort Wayne Three Rivers Festival - July 14-15. Just Barmie (Barbie Army) Jeep appeared and we finished a race in ~6th
- Maker Faire Detroit - July 28-29. Barmie
- Maker Faire Louisville - September 15-16. Barmie did roll
- Nashville Mini Makerfaire - "Fall" Barmie held 3rd for almost the entire 1st sprint and PS1 passed us in the last lap; we finished in 4th.
Karts' Construction
- Jared's clown car is modeled around a very small (~30" X ~20") Jeep Powerwheels toy.
- Frame construction is out of 2X4s and Plywood.
- Pillow-block bearings on 1" keyway-cut rear axle
- Old (1970's) used Go-kart rims.
- Batteries (SLA?)
- Treadmill Motor
- School-style plastic chair
- Disk brakes
- David Gramlin's Crazy Cart is modeled straight from a Razor Scooter Brand Crazy Cart.
- 7HP hobby king motor
- elongated frame out of square tubing
- Disk Brakes
- David Grob is heading up the first iteration of a potentially competetive build, modeled around a large barbie jeep.
- Chevy Volt Battery Pack 2X 6s3p lithium @ 24VDC in series.
- welded square tubing frame
- Brushless DC motor (or maybe an alternator?)
- Hydraulic brakes
- The Backup Dancers: 5 matching plastic frame parade karts from facebook marketplace
- going to get a bare-bones simple, cost effective matching rig on each one.
2017
In 2017 David, Cave Troll, and Jared made a Transformers "Bumblebee" themed powerwheels. The Stock yellow mustang was accented with transformers logos, and sported the racing number "502".
The kart was constructed from the guts of the RoomBAMF from the previous racing year. it contains:
- A welded metal frame
- 2x 800 Watt Electric Scooter Motor Controllers.
- an adafruit trinket for throttle control
- 3x ~30 Ah Sealed Lead-Acid batteries for a total of 36 Volts and about a 35 minute runtime on a full charge.
- Many other items. This list may or may not be fleshed out. ask Jared for more documentation.
We raced in the Makerfaire Detroit, Milwaukee Mini Makerfaire, and exhibited at the Louisville Mini Makerfaire. In Milwaukee, we placed second-to-last. (a lvl1 win)
As of March 2018, Bumblebee Still runs reasonably well. There are updates planned to make Bumblebee easier to setup, and tentative plans to bring it back for the 2018 season, in addition to the new 2018 car. if this happens, It should mark the first time LVL1 has brought more than one PPPRS Kart to competetion.
2016
Our vehicle for 2016: "RoomBAMF."
Inspirational footage for our design: [1]
Our structure will be a giant Roomba-style vehicle, featuring stylized personal safety gear to create a cat (dressed as a shark) costume. We are aiming to compete in the Maker Faire Detroit 2016 race, on July 30-31.
Curious for details? Want to help? Come by any Thursday around 7:30 PM to see what's going on!
Contact: Danielle Blank
