Video of the 2013-2014 School Year.

Grant Simme produced a fantastic video summarizing our accomplishments this year - check it out!

A visit to Bike Cycles

Before heading out for our brief Spring Break, we paid a visit to Bike Cycles, one of our sponsors, to show off our STEM Cycle.  The guys in the shop were quite impressed!

We also took an official team photo for the 2013-2014 EV Team.

11 Time Champions

This weekend we competed at the EV Challenge at NCCAR in Garysburg, NC.  We are pleased to announce some excellent results.  Without further ado:

 

Team results:

1st Place Overall, Car Class

1st Place Overall, Truck Class

1st Place Overall, STEM Cycle

1st Place School Initiative

2nd Place, Vehicle Design, Truck Class

2nd Place, Vehicle Design, STEM Cycle

Individual (or partner) events:

1st place, Troubleshooting: Ryan Latronico and Justin Poplaski

1st place, Oratorical: Katiana Vazquez and Tyler King

1st Place, Range (Car): Zac Bender and Justin Poplaski

1st Place, Jeopardy, Ben Nazelrod and Justin Poplaski

1st Place, Range (Truck): Grant Simme and Weston Hicks

1st Place, Autocross (Truck): Ben Nazelrod

1st Place, Acceleration (STEM Cycle): Brandon Whaley

1st Place, Range (STEM Cycle): Brandon Whaley

1st Place, Autocross (STEM Cycle): Roberto Gonzalez

2nd Place, Autocross (Car): Ryan Latronico  (A very consistent and fast performance!)

2nd Place, Acceleration (Truck): Logan Moore

2nd Place, Troubleshooting: Weston Hicks and Domenick DiBiase

3rd Place, Acceleration (Car): Katiana Vazquez

3rd Place, Jeopardy: Logan Moore and Tyler King

3rd Place, Oratorical: Grant Simme and Zac Bender

 

Our small-scale STEM Cycle was completed just in time to compete!

Quick update

The EV program has been hard at work designing our small-scale (Electrathon-style) electric vehicle over the past two months.  We are now receiving equipment and will begin assembly in preparation for the EV Challenge on April 4-6.  Pictures of our progress will be posted soon.

First Place at the NEAT Rally

We competed last weekend at the NEAT Rally at NCCAR in Northampton County, NC; our Truck finished 1st place overall.  Special thanks to Tim George of Wilmington Motor Works and Greg Tarleton of Bluewater Motor Sports for transporting our vehicles; Tim was also invaluable in helping the event run smoothly.  Event results are as follows:

1st Place Jeopardy (Truck) - Ben and Justin

2nd Place Autocross (car) - Ryan

1st Place Autocross (truck) - Ben

1st Place Acceleration (car) - Logan and Katiana

2nd Place Acceleration (Truck) - Tyler and Roberto

2nd Place Troubleshooting (car) - Grant and Zac

1st Place Troubleshooting (truck) - Ryan and Justin

1st Place Range (truck) - Zac and Brandon

2nd Place Range (car) - Grant and Justin

1st Place overall - Truck (award presented by EV Challenge Executive Director, Steve Garrett)

More Pictures from the event:

A rare view inside the MR2.

Top two jeopardy teams, ready for action!

Pit Crew

Troubleshooting

Four Topsail Conversions - all together in the same place

Mr. Jeffcoat keeping an eye on things.

Troubleshooting

Ready to accelerate!

Acceleration!

This is a tight fit.

Ready for the NEAT Rally

Our vehicles are loaded up and on their way to the NEAT Rally in Northampton County, NC, thanks to the transportation graciously donated by Blue Water Motorsports.  We also received generous donations from H.H. Gregg, Food Lion, Harris Teeter and Lowes Foods.

A special thanks to Greg, Roy, and all the folks at Blue Water Motorsports.

 We have installed a new electric heating system in our truck that should keep the windows frost-free this fall.

Brandon extracting the blower motor from a donor truck.

 One final step was to install the J1772 charging port on the car, which works with the charging station donated by Schneider Electric.

The port is cleverly hidden in the vent; you can use a regular household outlet with the plug under the fuel door.

The EVlink charging station, powered on and charging the MR2.

Spot Festival

Once again the Topsail Electric Vehicles were on display at the NC Spot Festival in Hampstead.  The event was a great success with beautiful weather both days.  We were able to educate many community members about our vehicles while enjoying good music and food.

A beautiful day in Hampstead.

Our new LED lighting system is great for nighttime displays.