How John Wayland got his "Plasma Boy" nickname

[SciroccoEV]

Some people here may have heard of, or even have been inspired by, John Wayland's Datsun 1200 EV drag car, "White Zombie".

Here's the story of how he got his nickname. A cautionary tale for all!

plasmaboy.pdf

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[MattsAwesomeStuff]

That was a delightful read. Thanks for sharing.

[johu]

I read a familiar name on page 8
Nice insight in the US EV scene, Otmar is the creator of the Zilla controller, right?

Kind of remembered the intense situation when I had to get in between the battery bricks under Touran to tighten the nuts that hold in onto the chassis. Of course the wrench extender was all covered in tape, but naturally it was bare metal at the tip. I was super anxious that the tape could peel off or be punctured and it were intense moments of extreme concentration. At least the interconnection between the back and front brick was removed. All went well.

[SciroccoEV]

I read a familiar name on page 8

I'd forgotten I had a mention in there! That would have been my third year developing the Porsche 914 EV race car and attending the Phoenix EV races.

Speed Bear had another outing on the Scrapheap Challenge episode - AC/DC Dairy Dash. I've still got him and he's seen here (missing his flying goggles), with his friend the Morini Hedgehog.

Nice insight in the US EV scene, Otmar is the creator of the Zilla controller, right?

Yes, Otmar created the Godzilla motor controller. It was originally built to power Snowhite, Bob Schneeveis' race car and used three parallel 400A IGBT modules at the time.

Much Silicon was sacrificed to the Gods of Speed. I paraphrased Douglas Addams to add a quote to a destroyed IGBT hanging on the wall of Otmar's workshop. "An example of catastrophic non-linear structural exasperation".

[SciroccoEV]

A rummage through my 'archive' found an old VHS tape. With the aid of a SCART to HDMI converter and by pointing my camcorder at the TV, I've done a quick and dirty transfer.

[clanger9]

Wow, brilliant! What year was that?

[SciroccoEV]

Wow, brilliant! What year was that?

Around 1994 I would think. It was 1995 that I first went out to work on Clare's #13 914 racer.

I drove the red Alpine, hung out with Bob and Otmar and worked on Clare's Porsche with Mike Slominski at Mike's Autocare.

[clanger9]

Wow again. You guys were way ahead of the game...

[Cookie6000]

Ah brilliant! That was a cracking read. And that VHS! Well done. Gotta love those Sunbeam Tigers. Amazing seeing the kit in Otmars test car there too. I feel like cheated so much now in my build with just having to drop in Damiens VCU, lol. Well and truly standing on the shoulders of giants.