This past weekend, our team traveled to Garysburg, NC to the EV Challenge event where we pushed our car to its limits. The car underwent multiple mechanical and electrical inspections before being tested in maximum range and an autocross event. The event was held at the North Carolina Center for Automotive Research ( NCCAR) located in Garysburg.The NCCAR facility features a 2.03 mile ride and handling course as well as six private garages and 2 large conference rooms that suited the needs of the EV Challenge very well this past weekend. The NCCAR facility is still under construction, and is planned to be an even greater research facility in the future.
On Saturday, all inspections and the range event were held for all of the electric vehicles. Our vehicle placed second in vehicle design behind Mount Vernon High School, located in Iowa. Oral presentations and troubleshooting events were held on Saturday as well. The troubleshooting event consists of 21 multiple-choice questions as well as finding two faults on a special board that represents an electric vehicle circuit. Our team placed second overall and first in the car class in the troubleshooting event on Saturday. The oral presentation consists of students presenting a 5 to 7 minute speech on a subject relating to electric vehicles. This year's subject pertained to Lithium ion batteries and their effects on a vehicle's inertia. Our team placed sixth overall in oral presentation on Saturday.
After the oral presentation and troubleshooting events, all of the electric vehicles participated in the range event on the 2 mile ride and handling course. Our vehicle performed exceptionally well in the range event, traveling approximately 35 miles on one charge, earning our team second place in the range event. Hunter Foulks was the driver of the Mustang in the range event. Our vehicle placed second behind Mount Vernon High School's Pontiac Fiero and before Weaver Academy's Mazda RX 7.
The autocross event was held on Sunday, where all of the teams out their cars to the test on a small agility course. Traffic cones were set up in multiple positions to create different obstacles for the vehicles. Quintin Dickerson was our team's driver for the autocross event, and he performed well in the autocross, averaging approximately 33 seconds on each run. Our Mustang placed second in the car class in the autocross event behind Mount Vernon High School's Pontiac Fiero and ahead of Weaver Academy's Mazda RX 7.
Overall, the EV Challenge this past weekend was a great success for our program, allowing our team to analyze our vehicle's strengths and weaknesses, as well as allowing the team to see all of our hard work pay off. Some strengths the team noticed about our Mustang included successes in design and impressive handling during the autocross event. Some weaknesses for our vehicle included a lack in range as well as the lack of a clutch in our transmission. The goal for our Mustang now is to upgrade from lead-acid batteries to lithium-ion batteries in order to reduce weight while increasing power. This goal can be achieved through the support of our sponsors and the hard work of our students.
Our Mustang is weighed before undergoing technical and electrical inspections.
Hunter and Quintin explain the mechanics of our Mustang to a EV Challenge judge during technical inspection.
Hunter and Quintin explain to the judges the wiring of our vehicle during electrical inspection.
Topsail High School's 2001 Ford Ranger before the range event.
West Wilkes High School's 2000 Mazda Miata.
Mount Vernon High School's 1988 Pontiac Fiero.
Dudley High School's 1990 Mazda B220 pickup.
Weaver Academy's 1987 Mazda RX 7.
Hunter and Quintin in an interview about our electric vehicle.
All of the electric vehicles staging for the range event on Saturday.
A new Tesla Roadster that served as the pace car for the range event.
Quintin driving the Mustang in the autocross event on Sunday.
Quintin takes on a tight turn in the Mustang during the autocross event.
Quintin finishes an autocross run on Sunday.
To check out more photos of the EV Challenge, check out our Picasa album and our school's website at Lab306.com. All of the cars that were at the event are featured in our album. We also have video clips of different school's autocross runs on our Youtube channel.
Overall, we are pleased with the results of our vehicle this year and we hope to improve the Mustang this summer by upgrading batteries to lithium-ion and improving our voltage to 156v.
