I spent about an hour talking to the guys that built this today (it's at the IMIS show in the USAC booth). They built it in 28 days for the show. Its a guy with a battery testing facility in Columbus (Ohio). Somebody told him it would be cool to do this so he did it. He says that it has enough motor and battery to be dialed in to be competitive with a Focus midget and almost enough to be competitive with a regular midget. His plans are to just demo it at a few venues and maybe race in a few Focus Midget races this coming season (not necessarily for points - just to see how fans would respond). They are not offically linked to Ohio State, but some of the technology is the same as what was used on the Buckeye Bullet. Many components (the motor in particular) are borrowed from GM production (hybrid) vehicles. For you rc guys (like me) the battery packs are LiFe. The motor is brushless, but not quite the same technology as what we use. The motor is up front, but there is an alternate design which would hang it over the rear axle like the T4's and SC10's* that we all know and love. One charge could last all night in a typical Focus midget show.

The USAC guys did not seem to know what to make of it, but were intrigued enough to give him the booth space.

* oops - should throw Slashes in there since Traxxas is a big USAC sponsor