Electrical

Push, pull, bang, blow. See, a spark is important...(unless it's a diesel)

Battery

The 12v dry-cell Odyssey battery is quite small, but well suited to the power requirements of the car (which are quite low). There are several advantages to running this type of battery:

Being a dry-cell it's very resistant to vibration; extremely useful offroad
It's a deep-cycle battery; enabling it to be completely discharged without shortening its life
It stores for long periods of time without losing charge; good between races
It's quite small; good for tight spaces

Note the plug to the left of the battery. This is an adapter (sometimes called an Anderson plug, but made by other manufacturers as well) to accept a second battery input; very similar to a set of jumper-leads, but in a much smaller package (with better current ratings).

Alternator

As the Rodeo runs long course events (>200km) it is pretty much forced to run an alternator; something it never had in it's previous incarnation as a stadium truck. The previous owner had installed one hanging off the tail-shaft, however we've been forced to move it to accommodate the second seat. It now hangs off the front of the motor, next to the supercharger.

As an aside,the car never had an ignition switch as such; even when running the original alternator (pictured to the left). It only ever had a battery kill switch (-ve terminal). This was simply because when the car was not moving, the alternator would not be charging and thus disconnecting the battery would kill the motor. Interesting in a puzzling sorta way.

A. Original alternator, B. Gearbox scattershield (6mm ally plate), C. Rear reduction box, D. Water pipe, E. Drive shaft, F. Drive shaft strap.

Here's the new alternator positioned next to the supercharger. This allows room for additional pipe work to be run where the original alternator had been situated; plus this location is relatively clean.

Alternator wiring, and pretty much the entire car, is fairly stock. Two battery kill switches, one each for the +ve and -ve terminals, plus thermals on each of the major circuits.

MoTeC M4-8 ECU

Pictured is the MoTeC M4-8 engine management computer currently running in the Rodeo. This unit controls the fuel injection and ignition circuitry for the Isuzu v6 based on measured throttle position and manifold pressure. In addition to it's control functions, the ECU also allows for a small amount of data to be logged (512K retains about 30min of data @ 5 samples/second). See below for a sample of actual race data.

The picture on the left is taken from actual race data captured by the MoTeC during an event at Brookton (King of the Hill 240 - 2006). Two issues could be raised from this data alone: 1. The battery voltage seems to be quite variable and this probably needs addressing, 2. The air temperature sensor appears on the blink (as the 90°C reading is a default setting in the ECU). The MoTeC i2 Standard software is pretty good for analysing this type of data.