EVLN(50mph HS carbon fiber/Kevlar body EV sets NECA record)

[Bruce EVangel Parmenter <brucedp@yahoo.com>]

EVLN(50mph HS carbon fiber/Kevlar body EV sets NECA record)
[The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV
 informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
 --- {EVangel}
Saint Thomas Academy Experimental Vehicle Team Breaks World
Record; Academy Students Set New High School Record for a
Second Time in Two Years

MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn., May 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Saint Thomas
Academy Experimental Vehicle Team set a new Electric Cart 
Association [ http://63.106.172.44 ] world record on 
May 24, 2002 at the two-day Electric Car Event for high 
school students.  The Cadets team traveled a record-setting
37.52 miles at the Berlin Speedway in Marne, Mich.

The previous record was 37.00 miles, and held by Lakeshore
High School (Michigan).  "We are very pleased with the
results," said teacher and Experimental Vehicle Team
moderator Mark Westlake.  "Students have put in hundreds of
hours of effort and time into this vehicle.

It is the culmination of many late night evenings and Sunday
afternoons." Only two years ago, the Saint Thomas Academy
Experimental Vehicle Team, formerly known as the
Supermileage Team, claimed the National High School record
with 1,322 miles per gallon, and later won the Society of
Automotive Engineers (SAE) College Supermileage Challenge.

The Experimental Vehicle Team is led by senior Ryan Dobie
who was also a part of the record-setting 2000 Supermileage
Team.  The Electric Car Event, which hosted more than two
dozen high school teams from throughout the country, has
students design, build, test, and race small one-person cars
that run for a total of one hour on a 64-pounds of lead-acid
batteries.

In addition to the mechanics and physics of the vehicle,
students must also factor in and strategize about available
energy from the batteries, efficiency of the car, current
weather conditions, and skillful race tactics. The driver,
with the constant help of his pit crew, must make minute by
minute decisions to keep the vehicle at its optimal
performance over the hour-long event.

"I love it when things don't work and we have to fix them,"
said Mark Westlake.  "As a team, the students have uncovered
thousands of things that don't work; however, they have also
then creatively discovered a number of successful
solutions."

The Experimental Vehicle Team is a co-curricular activity
led by Saint Thomas Academy physics teacher Mark Westlake
and senior leader Ryan Dobie. Other students include seniors
Andrew Lee, Eric Carolan, Andrew Bowen, Ben Hanrahan, and
Jordan Beissel, juniors Ray Schleck, Peter Gac, and Paul
Evans, sophomores Luke Wallrich, and Nick Snyder, and
freshman Nick DePrey.

Saint Thomas Academy will travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa on
Friday, May 31, 2002 to participate in the Midwest Speed
Championship, an Electrathon America event, at Hawkeye
Downs.  The Cadets are expected to perform well against a
field of high school, college, and individual competitors.

The Experimental Vehicle: Stars and Stripes Forever
The small electric car weighs 170 pounds and can transport
one student. The car is built from chromoly steel and has a
carbon fiber/Kevlar body.  The vehicle is solely powered
from a lead-acid battery and travels approximately 50 miles
per hour.

The car was painted in the patriotic stars and stripes in
honor of the men and women of the armed forces and was given
the lucky number 13 for the original United States flag.

About Saint Thomas Academy
Now in its 116th year, and with a current enrollment of 700
students in grades 7-12, Saint Thomas Academy is the only
Catholic, college preparatory, all-male, JROTC school in
Minnesota.  For more information please contact the Academy
at 651/454-4570 or check out the web site at
http://www.cadets.com . More information about the National
Electric Car Association (NECA) is available at
http://63.106.172.44/index.html .

SOURCE  Saint Thomas Academy CO:  Saint Thomas Academy;
National Electric Car Association ST:  Minnesota, Michigan
SU: http://www.prnewswire.com 05/29/2002 14:33 EDT
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