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!

Another Busy Week in the Shop

This week has been rather hectic in the shop.  We have run some cables and repaired the parking brake in the Volkswagen, and are modifying the motor, coupler and adapter plate to make everything fit.  In the MR2 we have removed the old Thunderskycell and are modifying the battery boxes to accept the smaller, yet more energy dense cells.  We will then have to do a rewire of the Battery Management System (BMS) before the car can get back on the road.

Also, we received a very generous donation this week from one of our sponsors, Atlantic Tool and Die!

David cutting apart the clutch disk to use in the coupler.

Ryan using the shop vacuum to pull cable through the heater channels.

Hunter removing the Thundersky cells from the trunk of the MR2.

Corey and Ryan working on the parking brake in the Bug.

Dillon grinding off the auxiliary output shaft on the motor so it will fit in the back of the VW.

New conversion time!

EV 13 with the 1961 Bug before conversion.

Gas tank is out, mock up of  front battery box.

Engine compartment....soon to have 9" motor.

As a going away present for Mr. Garrett, we have decided to convert his 1961 VW Bug.  The car will have specific design parameters to insure the integrity of the 51 year old car.  We are in the early stages now and are careful to make sure the whole process can be done without any cuts be made to the car.  The car will be 144 volt Lithium system, using the old cells from the MR2, which are in a semi depleted state, but should be good for a few more years and a vehicle range of about 50 miles tops. 

Raffle ticket sales at Hampstead Community Center

Today, several EV13 Team members sold tickets at the Hampstead Women's Clubs annual Craft Fair in the Hampstead Community Center.  The event was held from 8-1 and there were several hundred attendees throughout the day.  The day was a success with Brady and Ryan hitting their goal of 25 tickets sold!  That makes for four of ten members reaching their sales goal!  We hope to raise $2500 with the raffle so we can purchase a new set of Lithium cells for the MR2.

Raffle Ticket sales at Advance Auto

Cold day at Advance Auto today, but a few of the THS EV Team showed up bright and early at 8:00 to display the vehicles and sell raffle tickets.  We sold a total of 32 tickets  in a short period of time.  Next week, we will be at the Hampstead Community Center at the annual Hampstead Women's Club Holiday Craft Fair from 8:00-1:00.

EV Raffle time!! $2500 in prizes!

The Topsail EV Team is holding their annual Fall EV Raffle, and this year is better than ever! Over $2500 in prizes and a 1 in 8 chance of winning. If you win a smaller prize, you still get your name put back in for the Grand Prize drawing of an iPad 2. We will have an EV open house on the day of the drawing, December 20th at 5:30pm at the EV shop behind Topsail High School.


You u can buy a ticket from one of the EV students. The price is one for $10 or three for $25.
 Thanks for your support.
*PRIZES*
IPad 2-$400.00
Indo Jax Surf School-Week-long Morning Surf Camp $300.00
Lyons Sushi Party $250.00
2- Golds Gym 3 Month Memberships  $360.00
Bugs Etc. House Extermination Service $150.00
Music Loft Gift Card $100.00
Olde Point Golf Round of Golf for 2 Players $84.00
Finesse Carpet Cleaning $75.00
2- Golds Gym 1 Month Memberships $120.00
Ohana Paddle Sports 4 Hour Board Rental and 1 Hour Lesson $60.00
Napa Auto Parts Socket Set $50.00
Autozone Car wash bucket kit $30.00
Advance Auto Parts Car wash bucket kit $30.00
Belvedere Country Club Round of Golf $30.00
Shuckers Oyster Bar Gift Card $25.00
Shuckers Oyster Bar Gift Card $25.00
5- O'Leary's Automotive Repair Gift Certificates $125.00
Daddy Macs Gift Certificate $25.00
4- Topsail Greens Round of Golf $88.00
Finkelstein's Gift Card $20.00
El Cerro Grande Gift Card $20.00
Max's Pizza Large Pizza $15.00
2- 2 Guys Grille Gift Certificates $20.00
Hibachi To Go Gift Card $10.00
South End Surf Shop Gift Card $10.00
3- Bagel Bakery Gift Certificates $15.00
Yozio Gift Certificate $5.00

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

Spot Festival display

Once again, the Topsail Electric Vehicles were on display at the largest Festival in Hampstead each year, the Spot Festival.  A Spot is a fish that is caught off our local waters, and each year thousands of visitors come to enjoy music, fun and most of all, the delicious Spot dinner.  The event is a local fundraiser for the schools and fire departments, so everyone comes out to support the community.
  We had a good showing as usual and fielded plenty of questions about the vehicles.  The team did an excellent job as always.  The festival is usually our first major display and the students were ready for the task.  We get the same questions year after year, but we have noticed that the general public is becoming more aware of electric and hybrid vehicles. This is a good sign, and it also helps that gas prices are pretty high right now, making more people think about alternative fuel sources.

Atlantic Tool & Die Open House

We had the opportunity to display our vehicles at one of our largest and supportive sponsors, Atlantic Tool & Die yesterday.  The event was their annual open house, held at the facility on Hwy 210 in Hampstead.  Company president  Hugh Highsmith presented the Topsail EV class with a sponsor donation check of $1000!!!  Wow, we really needed that to help us reach our $10,000 fundraising goal this year.  There were more than 50 people there for demonstrations and of course food.  The class was able to tour the maching manufacturing facility and gain valuable insight into the world of machining and the equipment used to produce very precise parts.  Thank you Atlantic Tool & Die for helping our program continue to excel.