Presume the 100 pound foot of torque is almost instant. Silence to a gas engine Kart is similar to the silence of the Andy Granatelli turbin indy car of the mid 1960's to normal Indy car engines. I watched the turbin dubed "Silent Sam" at a race at the Milwaukee mile. Sounded like a vaccum cleaner when it went by. How does the new track record compair to a 300 pound Yamaha Kart? Or other similar engine.
Yes, the 100 pound feet of torque is instant and constant from 0rpm to the 4500rpm motor limit. The massive amount of torque and single gear means that when you drive these in the wet, if you stomp on it the rear wheels will spin straight to 100mph, quite fun 
As for the record relative to gas karts, we are about the same as the fastest 125 shifters. 250 shifters are about 8 seconds faster. The karts are designed for short track use, so I topped out at 95mph. At the next event I will be putting the smallest gear possible on the back to increase top speed.
Very cool except for the lack of sound 
. Maybe you throw some speakers on the back and play some speed actuated recorded sound from a 911 or a V-12 Ferrari?
How long can one of these run between battery charges? What does one of these karts cost? How many of these are running out your way?
Lol, the lack of sound is incredibly disorienting the first time you drive one. All you hear is a slight whine similar to an RC car, and an immense amount of wind noise. Our current range on these batteries is about 15 miles, but we run into thermal issues before that. After about 5 minutes of flat out driving the batteries will reach temp limits, causing the onboard computer to cut back power in a linear fashion to avoid melting anything. Even when the batteries are hot, we will still have around 30-35hp. A full recharge takes about an hour and a half, so we charge between races with no issues.
A brand new kart will run you around $16,000, but we are selling used karts for $5,000 locally on certain terms to try and build our series. The cost of the kart is high, but you have to remember the lack of operational costs when running a kart like this. Gas shifter karts need motor rebuilds every one or two races, transmission rebuilds almost as often, etc. Our karts just need brakes and tires. Our powertrains need no maintenance and will long outlast the life of the kart. This equates to a positive pay-off in 2 years of running the kart. This year we will have eight karts in the field!
This looks like a lot of fun but I'd be worried at these speeds with the lack of safety gear. At this pace I want a full roll cage and enclosed wheels for sure. But that is just me. The lap times are faster than a SM at MRLS so these things are moving pretty good. Excellent advertisement for EV's in motorsports though as karts are a vehicle that the grassroots enthusiast can relate to.
Mark
Racing karts use similar safety concepts as motorcycle racing. First, we wear suits designed for friction resistance rather than fire resistance. It is safer to be separated from the kart in case of an accident to disperse energy on your own. Second, we do have neck protection devices that act similarly to a HANS, it is called a LEATT. See link. Undoubtedly more dangerous than SM, but no more dangerous than motorcycle racing.
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(yes...the new motor was basically complete)
