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Perry Carter, faculty co-advisor for the EV Racing Team, said the BYU team did a great job preparing the car for the "Power of DC" event. This gives us the opportunity to redesign and improve the technology." It seems like we continue to push the envelope and find the weak link in the drive system by breaking parts. Luke Graham, a senior mechanical engineering student, noted, "Electric cars have tremendous torque. In the fourth run, the first gear drive sprocket sheared, effectively ending the day for the car. Team members changed motor parameters, tire pressures and shift points with each run, trying to lower the elapsed time. The EV 1 made three quarter mile runs with elapsed times of 14.38 seconds, 14.30 seconds and 14.08 seconds. Modifications to BYU's EV 1 over the past year and a half included doubling the number of Maxwell Technologies ultracapacitors, developing a unique wireless computer control system and installing a student-designed-and-built two-speed transmission. We figured that if we were going to break again, we'd break it on the track in Maryland." We were able to get it made and installed, but testing was limited before we left for Hagerstown. "We twisted off a one inch diameter transmission jack shaft in practice three weeks ago at Rocky Mountain Raceway in Salt Lake City, and we weren't sure we could get a redesigned, stronger jack shaft made in time. "The team was not sure the car would be ready to race in Maryland," said student team leader Taylor Newill, a sophomore electrical engineering major. The team posted a quarter mile elapsed time of 14.08 seconds at 93 miles per hour, having originally set the record for this class (the National Electric Drag Racing Association modified production/class A) in April 2003, a record of 15.9 seconds elapsed time at 77 miles per hour. Brigham Young University's Electric Vehicle Racing Team set a new quarter mile acceleration record with their modified General Motors EV 1 at the "Power of DC" electric vehicle drag racing event Saturday, June 11, at the Mason Dixon Dragway in Hagerstown, Maryland.