16th annual NEAT EV Rally Champions!



We arrived in style thanks to Larry Hall



Hunter handling the track

Davis make a first place run

Never let Shelby take a "fun run" on the autocross track.......

Competing in EV Jeopary for the Odyssey event

The guys hustling in the Pit Crew event

Another victorious event for THS EV!

Congratulations to the Topsail Electric Vehicle Team for their victories at the 16th annual NEAT EV Rally this past weekend at the NCCAR test track facility in Roanoke Rapids, NC.  An amazing weekend with an amazing group of students. We were recognized as being the best organized and most motivated group there! The team has accumulated 162 trophies in 13 years of competition.
The team won the following trophies:
1st Overall
1st Autocross: Modified Class
1st Range: Modified Class
1st Range: Truck Class
2nd Troubleshooting
2nd Pit Crew
2nd Acceleration: Modified Class
2nd Acceleration: Truck Class
2nd Autocross: Truck Class
3rd EV Jeopardy

WECT TV 6 News report

Bailey Hicks from Wilmington local channel WECT TV6 came early this morning to do a feature story on our EV program.  She was very impressed with the class and their knowledge of the vehicles.  She was especially impressed by the fact that the EV13 Team attends the class every day at 7:15, an hour before regular school begins.  We were able to give a few interviews and explain how we were preparing for the NEAT competition next week.  Davis Sessions and Matt van der Wal did an excellent job in front of the camera.  Bailey was very interested in the performance of the vehicles, so we did not hesitate to take her for a spin in the MR2.  As you can tell by the picture above, she definitely has an "EV Grin"!

There will be an update after the segment airs that will link to the story online.  Stay tuned.

CFCC Auto Body demonstration

We had a guest speaker today from the CFCC Paint and Auto Body program.  Aimee Abreya stopped in to speak about and promote her program at CFCC for high school students who would like the opportunity to take the classes while still in high school for dual enrollment.  She also brought a very expensive paint booth simulator to allow students to practice painting in a virtual world!  The simulator was an awesome experience for several students who braved the virtual helmet and tried their skills at painting virtual body panels.  Every experience like this is a great opportunity for students to see what is available as a career.  We always need a vehicle painted when we do a conversion, so this would really help us out as well.

Display at Wilmington Christian Academy

We have a unique opportunity to be a mentor to a new EV Club being created at Wilmington Christian Academy.  The instructor visited our class for about two hours this week to get a better picture of what is involved in supporting an Electric Vehicle conversion club.  We had gobs of information and were able to show our shop and classroom area, plus we had advice on when to hold the meetings as well. 

  We were then invited to help promote their program at the school during their Fall Carnival fundraiser.  We drove both vehicles into Wilmington to their site and set up for display.  Most everyone was very impressed by the Topsail EV Team and their knowledge of the vehicles.  Hopefully the WCA club will make it to the EV Challenge final event this year with a newly converted car.