Read the rulebook…
…before you start to build! Land racing has strictly enforced safety and class rules. Countless of racers have had to turn around and go home after the technical inspectors pointed out that their vehicle would not comply with the safety rules. The KillaJoule is built exactly according to the rulebook, which makes the technical inspection on race day much less painful. The inspection is still stressful, however, as all racers fear they have overlooked or forgotten some vital detail. As a streamliner rider/driver, you also have to perform the so called “bail-out test”, which is something everybody dreads. For this portion of the inpection, you have to get dressed up in full race gear including fire proof suit, helmet, neck protector, gloves, and boots. You then get completely belted in with the canopy closed. The seatbelt in KillaJoule is a 7-point racing harness plus arm-restraints and leg net that keep your hands and feet inside the roll cage structure in case on a crash. When the inspector knocks on your windshield, you have just 30 seconds to get out without assistance of any kind. If you take more than 15 seconds, you will pass, but they will ask you to practice more. In case of a fire, you fire suit is only good for 45 seconds in direct fire, so it is easy to understand why all these rules are in place.
Speaking of competition rules, what kind of vehicle is KillaJoule really? Is it a car, a motorcycle, or something in-between? Well, according to international motorcycling competition rules, the KillaJoule is a “sidecar streamliner motorcycle”, it is “electrically powered” and runs in the class for vehicles over 300 kg (over 660 lb).
A sidecar motorcycle is defined as a vehicle that has two wheels in line, where only the rear wheel is driven and only the front wheel has steering. The third wheel is offset and has neither propulsion nor steering. It makes two tracks on the ground. In land racing, a “car” is defined as a vehicle that has four or more wheels, so KillaJoule is clearly a motorcycle. However, if I would add another sidecar on the other side, it would then become a car.
