The cars are silent until the green flag comes down — signaling the race start — then nearly as one, the hum of electric vehicles sounds as racers take off from the starting line Saturday at the annual South Texas Greenpower USA Goblin and F24 Showcase at the Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport.
Saturday’s race is the second day of competition for the area event by Greenpower USA, a national STEM program nonprofit for students to enhance science, technology, engineering and math education and increase student engagement through the challenge of building and racing electric cars.
“We wanted to do a program where the kids got some hands-on experience with some pretty neat cars,” executive director Drew Sparks said of the program’s goal.
The program started in 2014 with just a handful of middle school-age students. Now, Sparks says the organization has over 600 racing teams nationwide with local and national races and championship events.
School groups and programs purchase the car kits from Greenpower USA or build their car from scratch within the regulations set by the nonprofit to compete at their events.
Competition splits into two vehicle builds based on grade level. The Goblin is for fourth through sixth-grade students, while F24 is for sixth through 12th-grade students. Each build team must also give a presentation to the judges and industry partners on their vehicle and design process.
In the Goblin division, while students don’t have to focus on modifying their vehicle, they need to learn technical driving skills for the drag race, slalom and circuit race.
This competition is Aracelia Vera’s second year bringing a Goblin team from Southmost Elementary School in Brownsville Independent School District. She says it’s a rewarding experience to see how each year adds to the one before.
“It feels awesome because each year, we learn more and more about how to modify the car, ” she said.
The students work on their car after school and every other Saturday as part of the Afterschool Centers on Education (ACE). Student team member fifth-grader Adela Escobedo, 10, said it took the team about a week to complete their car.
“It was pretty exciting to learn how to put it together because I was learning to engineer. That’s what I want to do when I grow up,” Escobedo said.
F24 students have a different challenge ahead of them. For their division, they can modify or custom-build a vehicle. The race has an added hurdle, with each car needing to hold up to 90 minutes of drive time on the course on one set of batteries with two race heats.
David Ybarra Fine Arts Academy, from Edcouch-Elsa Independent School District, competed for the first time in the F24 division.
Previously a Goblin competitor, Bailey Fernandez served as one of the drivers on the course in addition to her role as team manager.
“It’s been awesome, and we’ve learned a lot of things,” Fernandez said of adjusting to the new build division.
San Benito High School, seasoned Valley competitors, brought two vehicles to compete in the modified F24 division.
Team co-captain Javier Sosa, a senior and pit technician, says that one of the challenges of the competition is balancing communication with the construction of their vehicle. The crew needs to be ready at a moment’s notice to help out their drivers if something is wrong but hopefully have built their car well enough to survive the course.
“On the course, one of the hardest challenges is getting the car to stay consistent. If it breaks down, we have to go and fix it. If it slows down, we have to go and fix it. If it stops on the track, we have to go out and bring it in, and we might finish the race just like that,” he said.
After two days of competition Ben Brite Elementary School took home first and second place overall in the Goblin Division with vehicles 100 and 140, with vehicle 690 from John F. Kennedy Elementary placing third.
In the F24 Division, after two race heats, in the Intermediate Stock Division, Oliveira Middle School vehicle 048 took home first place, with vehicle 135 from Carlos F. Truan Jr. High in second and David Ybarra Fine Arts Academy vehicle 027 in third.
Weslaco CTE’s vehicle 44 took first place in F24 Advanced Modified Overall, San Benito High School’s vehicle 83 in second and STISD Science Academy’s vehicle 992 in third.
Harmony Science Academy-Plfugerville received first place in F24 Advanced Stock Overall.
For more information about Greenpower USA visit www.greenpowerusa.net.
To see more, view Brownsville Herald photojournalist Denise Cathey’s full photo gallery here:
