Car guys go for X Prize
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tiqued, proving the Illuminati design to work.
Jen Danzinger, Smith’s wife and the team’s graphic artist, says the car’s theoretical top speed is 220 miles per hour – though they’ve only taken it up to 70 mph – and it can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in about 10 seconds. Unlike internal combustion engines, electric motors put out the same power at all rotation speeds, meaning Seven can generate a whopping 398 foot-pounds of torque from the instant the “gas” pedal is pressed.
The car is entirely road-worthy, from the turn signals and air conditioner to the speaker system with a custom music player dock.
And those gull-wing doors? They aren’t just for style; they helped the Illuminati crew clock the fastest emergency exit drill the X Prize judges had ever seen. Featuring door pulls from a DeLorean DMC-12, the iconic gullwing car featured in the Back to the Future film series, the special doors are just one of the safety and convenience features incorporated into the car. In case four gull-wings aren’t enough, the spacious trunk – which team members joke can fit two dead bodies – has two gullwing doors as well.
The team’s name is a jab at conspiracy theorists who believe an elite group of politicians and academics control the world and keep alternative energy sources from prospering.
”I think Kevin wants to stick his finger in the eye of the monster,” jokes Thomas Pasko, the team’s all-around mechanic and owner of Thomas Automotive Precision auto shop in Springfield. Despite their efforts to push the energy envelope of conventional transportation, the crew has received a couple of laughable comments from web visitors calling them Satanists and condemning their project as an evil extension of the global elite.
“You’re always going to have those wingnuts out there, laughs Danzinger. Some people just don’t quite get it.”
Between jotting down equations on a white board and fiddling with numerous wires and switches, Smith says he gets a thrill from making his machines the best. He’s an accomplished tinkerer, once turning a 20horsepower lawn mower engine into a highrevving, two-stage stored-air supercharger cranking out 50 horsepower.
“For me, the competition is the whole reason I do it,” Smith says of his current project, though his job at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the recycling bins in his and Danzinger’s kitchen suggest concern for the environment may have something to do with it as well.
The rest of the team members cite camaraderie as their motivation.
“We see it as just helping out a friend,” says Spradlin, who helped design the car’s body and fabricated many parts from scratch. “Even if we don’t win, Kevin will have a great daily driver, and we’ll have helped him do something that needed to be done.”
What’s next for the Illuminati gang? Smith says in typical deadpan style, “There’s always the lunar lander contest.”
He may be only half-joking.
Contact Patrick Yeagle at [email protected].
