Even though "Big Daddy" failed to accelerate past the 200 miles per hour mark, the 82-year-old racing legend managed to break a new record with his Swamp Rat 37 electric dragster.
By reaching a quarter-mile speed of 184.01 mph at the Bradenten Motorsports Park in Florida, Don Garlits didn't only surpass the existing 156 mph world record for electrically powered racers, but utterly crushed it.
However, the 7.258-second run didn't go as smooth as he and his team would've thought. During the record-breaking run's climax, a blown fuse led to the malfunction of the dragster's braking chute. This caused the Swamp Rat to plunge straight off the strip and into a field. Fortunately, "Big Daddy" was uninjured, with the dragster suffering minimal damage.
The 1,500 kilowatt dragster is fitted with an all-electric powertrain featuring four lithium-polymer batter packs providing 420 volts and 3,600 amps. Zap is sent to a set of six 7.5-inch series-wound General Electric motors connected to a two-speed rear end. With this kind of firepower, the electric dragster can hit the 60-foot mark just about as quick as the nitromethane monsters from the NHRA Championship Drag Racing Series.
After the run, Don Garlits declared to the media that he won't give up trying to surpass the 200 mph barrier with the very dragster that tried to kill him. In his own words, a little adjustment to the gearing and electric power controller and “we think that 200 mph is just around the corner.”
2014 marks the 50th anniversary of Garlits' historic first official NHRA 200 mph pass in 1964. But that was then and this is now, so scroll down and watch the father of drag racing go nearly as fast as a Top Fueler in his electric Swamp Rat.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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