Officials at Gateway International Raceway, Madison, Ill., were faced with the dilemma of how to provide lighting for their weekly drag racing programs at a facility that was undergoing major renovations - and with the power transformers were eight weeks from delivery. While late summer daylight allowed for racing into the evening hours, problems began to occur when the track's three-day-a-week racing programs began to run into the shortened daylight of the fall.
Enter Fabick Power Systems, the Fenton, Mo.-based Caterpillar distributor to supply two Cat Rental Power generator sets until normal power was restored to the race track. To handle the track's generated power needs, Fabick supplied two units, a Caterpillar XQ225 (rated 225 kW prime) and an Olympian CT60 (rated 48 kW prime), both trailer-mounted and with sound-attenuated enclosures.
"Until we got those generators, we were hurting," said Bob Dicus, Gateway's operations manager. "We used them every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday during the month of October
The model XQ225 rental power unit is powered by a six-cylinder, turbocharged and aftercooled Caterpillar 3306 diesel engine rated 316 hp, featuring a Woodward electronic 1724 governor. The Olympian CT60 generator set is powered by a four-cylinder turbocharged Caterpillar 3054 diesel rated 80 hp and governed by a Barber-Colman electronic governor.
Other gen-set accessories on the XQ225 unit include a Master Controls 5 amp battery charger, Merlin Gerin circuit breakers and a Watlow 3000 W jacket water heater. On the Olympian CT60, accessories include a Donaldson air cleaner, Kim Hotstart 1800 W water heater and a Stanadyne fuel injection pump.
The XQ225 gen-set was used to power a Musco lighting system used to illuminate the racing surface, while the CT60 was used to operate the track's timing system. The timing system required a very low spike or surge rate and, according to Dicus, the Olympian CT60 operated the timing system with no glitches.
Caterpillar's XQ line of rental packages include an EMPC II (electronic modular control panel) that is shock mounted in a separate enclosure compartment for easy viewing and servicing. The distribution panel allows even an inexperienced rental customer to safely identify output voltages and output terminals feature safety interlocks. Also, an array of receptacles are available with individual circuit breakers.
Both gen-sets offer a variety of automatic engine shutdowns, a.c. metering packages and engine gauges. Optional features for both units include the battery chargers and jacket water heaters and road ready trailers.
