Raffle Time!

It's time for the Topsail Electric Vehicle Annual Raffle!
We have big plans for next year's team, including an all-new conversion and significant updates to our other vehicles, but none of it will be possible without financial support.

We have over $2,100 in total prizes available, including...

Recliner from Hampstead Furniture
iPad Mini.
Ukulele from the Ukulele Academy
Car Detailing and Oil Change at Jeff Gordon Chevrolet
Car Detailing at Stevenson Honda
Oil Change and Car Wash at Wilmington Motor Works
Alignment and Tire Rotation at MS Auto
Massage and Facial from Innis Spa
Fishing Rod from Eastern Outfitters
Video Sunglasses from Surf City Pier
Gift Certificates to numerous restaurants and businesses, including:
Advance Auto, Camino Real, Dunkin Donuts, Englese's, Fuzzy Peach, Highway 55, Jungle Rapids, Long Horn, NY Corner Deli, Pizza Hut and Reel Pizza.

Tickets are $10, or 3 for $25, and may be purchased at the drawing.

The drawing will be held May 28th at 6:00PM in the EV Shop (located behind Topsail High School.

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!

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.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Our new school year is now underway, and one of our first tasks was to lead the homecoming parade.

Although the game didn't turn out in our favor, the vehicles were a big hit, especially the new lighting system we have added to the car.

We are busy adding a similar system to the truck, and hope to have another surprise in store before this weekend's Spot Festival.

We hope to have both vehicles in top condition before our first competition, the NEAT rally at NCCAR on October 18-19.

Raffle Time

It's time for the annual spring Fundraiser Raffle.  We have a lot of great things planned for next year, but none of it is possible without your financial support.

You can win one of over $2,000 in prizes:

iPad Mini
Dyson Hand Vac
Side Arm Paddleboard Lessons
Surf City Pier Season Pass
Auto Detailing at Stevenson Acura
Tree Stand
Music Loft Gift Card
Golf and Cart for 4
Beach Bowl for 6 (x2)
4 Rounds at Ten Pin Alley (x5)
Ice House Skating for 4
Shuckers Gift Card
3 Fishing Rods
Max's Pizza
Walgreens Gift Bag
Second Wind Fitness Membership
O'Leary's Car Service
Poplar Grove Gift Basket
...and more!

The drawing will be held May 29th at 5:30PM in the EV Shop.

You can purchase tickets from any EV Student.

On the road again!

The battery transplant is now complete and the MR2 is back on the road, thanks to seven long hours of work on Saturday by some dedicated students.  Re-wiring the Orion BMS took a lot of time and patience (and a call to their ever-helpful customer support line), but it is now working to equalize our new battery pack.  There are still some final details to attend to, but now our attention can shift to the Volkswagen and preparing for the EV challenge.  Check out the pictures of our progress.

Drilling out holes for the battery straps.

The front box, ready to go back in!

Moving the bug out of the way, so the MR2 can get on the lift.

Since the new cells are smaller, we need new holes for the battery cables.

The back box is almost finished...

Everything is in place up front.

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