#019-About Solar Cars and the Alumnus' Son

Jamie Tabanao is the son of Jimmy Tabanao (alumnus IHS Class73).

Jamie was  featured in one of the articles in the Hudson Valley Magazine  published last Nov. 12, 2008. The article "Race to the Future" was written by Elizabeth Stein.

Race to the Future

The Newburgh Free Academy’s Solar Racing Team takes the lead in building energy-efficient automobiles

BY: ELIZABETH STEIN PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 12, 2008 AT 03:05 PM

Space-age speedster: This Solar Racing Team car appeared on the Discovery Channel’s Battleground Earth

Photograph courtesy of Dell-Winston Solar Challenge and NFA Solar Racing Team

Eachus, a physics teacher at Newburgh Free Academy High School (NFA), is the advisor of the school’s Solar Racing Team, a unique club that designs, builds, races, and exhibits its own solar and electric vehicles. The club — the most established group of its kind in the state — has been one of the school’s extracurricular activities since 1993, and their cars have been traversing the country for years competing in (and winning) races. Their latest vehicle, however, recently zoomed into the national spotlight after appearing on the Discovery Channel’s new series, Battleground Earth. The reality show features Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and hip-hop superstar Ludacris going tête-à-tête in a rock-versus-rap series of eco-challenges — such as making bio-fuel — as they learn how to reduce their carbon footprint.

Eachus and team cocaptain Jamie Tabanao flew out for the week to be with the car during taping. “It was a fun experience,” says Tabanao, now in his first year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy. “I got to meet Tommy Lee and Ludacris. That was really cool. They were asking me a lot of questions. One of them was, ‘Is this really safe?’ ”

Photograph courtesy of Chris Eachus TV junkies may be shocked to learn that “reality TV is not really reality,” according to Eachus. “Although they got in the cars and drove them a little, the celebrities did not actually compete.” It would have taken too long for the musicians to learn how to drive the cars: The brakes and other systems work differently than those in conventional vehicles, and the cockpit space is too small to comfortably accommodate a person of average size. So Tabanao “raced” the car for Tommy Lee, “beating” Ludacris, who “drove” the Stanford car. “It’s funny that people look at things on reality TV as if that’s how they happen,” says Eachus. “We actually did the race about 20 times. The producers were like, ‘That was great! Let’s do it again!’ ”   Read Full Article Here .