Day 3 page 1- the show

Please note: I’m waiting for official results from NESEA. If I have omitted names here I’m just waiting for that information. If you see something I’ve unintentionally mis-labeled, please drop me a line and let me know. I want, very much, to see everyone here get credit for their accomplishments.

Chaos de Sol

Finally, Saturday morning arrives. Though the ground has the consistency of porridge, it didn’t rain during the entire show. The sun even made some token appearances (which I tried to document below).

The POG’s little home away from home. Here we were set up at the entrance to the Hybrid/Alternate Fuel/Electric Vehicle Section (try saying that three times fast). We had the advantage of being right by the one of the main entrances and by the food. So we saw thousands come past. Many of those people wanted to stop and talk about the Prius. Most of the questions were pretty basic, “What was it like to drive?” and such. It was a lot of fun being able to show people that the Prius is just a car. A really, cool, low polluting, fuel efficient car, but in the end, just a car. And for the most part, that’s good news.

Right next door were the Honda Insights.

This one happens to belong to mileage champion, Wayne Gerdes.

Here’s Wayne Gerdes, his Insight, his trophy for the drive-in rally and his navigator/co-pilot (and a Prius owner), Dan Kroushl. Both of these gentlemen were also involved in the Pittsburgh Prius Single Tank Marathon last year that was covered by HBO.

Wayne and Dan. Dan is holding the trophy and wearing a fine, new Prius Owners Group cap.

From left to right; Hobbit’s ’05, my ’05 and Barb from NESEA’s ’01 Prius.

And of course, the POG table of fun. The hottest item on the table? Without a doubt, Hobbit’s amazing handouts. He had made copies of some of the sheets he adorned his car with, important information about how the car works and such. People grabbed them up like they were blank checks.

The weather threatened on and off throughout the day. While this is particularly dismal sample of that, there were many points where the the event’s namesake did poke through the clouds.

Oh and yeah, that’s the new hybrid Camry.

The TdS start/finish line had been moved to the exhibition field for the car show.

This sleek, bio-diesel entry was from a school in West Philadelphia.

A close-up of the solar panels that covered the bed of the truck from St. Mark’s School. Be sure to catch the shots of this truck in the Autocross event in the folowing pages.

Three St. Marks students who helped build, maintain and drive the solar truck.

Stopping by the POG table to score of Hobbit’s handouts and Stoner Car Care products coupons.

Without a doubt Hobbit was the best Prius ambassador one could ask for. His vast knowledge, passion for the technology and real, down-to-earth approach kept him busy throughout the show. I can’t recall of how many technical questions I had to defer to him from people, but it was a lot.

The Honda Insight group.

Clifton Park Toyota came with a Lexus GS450h, a hybrid Camry and hybrid Highlander.

We had a great spot for the car show and the only downside was an enormous Oak tree that kept dropping pollen pods throughout the show.

The SmartCar.

SmartCar interior.

A shot under the hood of EVermot’s totally electric Toyota Echo.

A shot of the trunk of EVermot’s electric Echo.

One of the two Hy-Motion Priuses with their lithium battery pack was on display at the show.

To continue on to see more of the day’s events including the awards and autocross, click here.