Lightning Rod

Date	Location	Driver	Driver Country	Vehicle	Power	Speed over 1 Km	Speed over 1 Mile	Comments
October 15, 1997	Bonneville	Ed Rannberg	USA	Lightning Rod	Electric		215.3 mph	First over 200 mph

Lightning Rod was built in Fontana CA by the Arivett Bros. who are race car designers and builders with particular expertise in streamlining and aerodynamics. They worked with Cal Tech to produce the elegantly shaped aluminum body having a model calculated coefficient of drag at .13 cd. It weighs 2310 lbs including the 26 batteries. A second group of 26 batteries and a second motor are provided for and may be employed in future development stages. The one present motor is calculated to drive the vehicle at 200 mph or more.

The vehicle is 24 feet long and only 26" wide by 24" tall, (37" tall at the tail). The dimensions produce a frontal area of only about 5 square feet. The vehicle is designed to carry up to 52 batteries, although only 26 are being used for the inital test runs. Twelve volt Pulsar sealed, flooded cell lead acid batteries are used, each weighing about 35 pounds. The battereis are contained ina single box and two complete boxes with 52 batteries each will be used during the attempt on the record. Rule require two high speed runs and a spare battery box will be swapped into the vehicle during the hour allowed between runs.

With a full load of 52 batteries (1,600 pounds worth), total vehicle weight will be about 3,000 pounds.

Left to right: Bill O'Brien (Hawker Batteries), Dustin Rannberg, Ben Buffum, Geri Rannberg, Randy Rannberg, Eric Luebben, Jim Montague, Jim Ludiker, and John Federe. Inset photo: Ed Rannberg (1931 - 1997)

Electric Vehicle Tunes Up For Land Speed Record
by Kenneth L. Berg

18 July, 1993
El Mirage, CA
Ed Rannberg took his "Lightning Rod" EV for her maiden run on this historic dry lake bed today in his quest to improve the EV Land Speed Record with American technology. The first attempt ended when the drive belt stripped its teeth, unable to withstand the torque increase when the dual Curtis 400 amp controller was by-passed part way through the run to provide 156 volt power from the 26 GNB parallel wired batteries directly to the 9" Advanced DC Motor. The second run was conducted at reduced power for the concluding test of the day.

Lightning Rod was built in Fontana CA by the Arivett Bros. who are race car designers and builders with particular expertise in streamlining and aerodynamics. They worked with Cal Tech to produce the elegantly shaped aluminum body having a model calculated coefficient of drag at .13 cd. It weighs 2310 lbs including the 26 batteries. A second group of 26 batteries and a second motor are provided for and may be employed in future development stages. The one present motor is calculated to drive the vehicle at 200 mph or more. Rannberg, the Arivett Bros. and Eric Luebben the electrical crew chief will now prepare the car for running at Bonneville, Utah during Speedweek, August 14-22. They are preparing to break the existing EV speed record of 174.92 mph, held by Roger Hedland of Sunnyvale, CA.

1996 Ed Rannberg drives 201 mph in a specially prepared EV built by Donald and Gerald Arivett. The speed was clocked by the Southern California Timing Association, but is not considered an official world record, because it was made by driving in only one direction.

1997 Rannberg Team Racing set a new international land speed record of 192 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. The Lightning Rod uses off-the-shelf technology, including sealed lead-acid Genesis batteries. The two opposite-direction runs were timed and sanctioned by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). A new national speed record of 207 mph was sanctioned by Bonneville National, Inc. (BNI).