PORT TOWNSEND — Roderick Wilde’s electric car obsession is hitting national television tonight.
A reality television program that showcases Wilde’s attempt to turn an electric mail delivery van into a 600-horsepower street racer airs tonight on the Discovery Channel.
“Sucking Amps,” as its called, premieres at 10 p.m. tonight and repeats at 1 a.m. Friday. A third showing is at 1 p.m. Sunday.
The show takes Wilde’s idea for the van, called “Gone Postal,” from conception in his Glen Cove workshop to the racetrack in Las Vegas.
“It’s just a show about this whacked-out amp head, you know?” Wilde said in describing the show during filming last November.
The car proved too successful on the racetrack when its power literally tore components apart.
Wilde’s obsession has gone on after the show, however, and he’s determined to break a world record by the end of the month — even if it’s not available on America’s TV sets.
With some new drive shafts from a race sponsor, The Driveshaft Shop of Islandia, N.Y., Wilde hopes his mail van will become the first street-legal electric car to break 100 mph in a quarter-mile.
The attempt place April 30 at Bremerton Raceway. Gates open at 3 p.m. that day and the racing starts at 4 p.m.