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News
Tour De Sol Update
Community – Monday, March 26, 2007
The Tour de Soul is an annual event that celebrates progress made toward more environmentally friendly vehicles that use less fuel, emit less climate change emissions, and offer new ways of getting around. Simon Hauger, a teacher at the West Philadelphia High School Automotive Academy, has been taking students to this competition for the past several years. According to Simon, the soybean-powered car shows what kids – any kids – can do when they get the chance. “If you give kids that have been stereotyped as not being able to do anything an opportunity to do something great, they’ll step up,” he says.
And that is exactly what these students did. After winning the first place prize in the 2005 competition with the “Hybrid Attack”, Simon and his team* entered the competition again in 2006. If the team won a second Tour de Sol, there would likely be scholarships and well-paying jobs in the auto industry for the students, and badly needed grants or sponsorships for the city school’s automotive academy.
They had some setbacks – a lower than expected score in the safety inspection. They also had to endure water seeping into the car from a driving rain storm during most of the 200 mile course designed to measure the fuel efficiency and vehicle emissions in a car with no heating system. At this point, Simon simply prayed that they would at least finish the course. They did better than finish. Despite the conditions and the competition, their kit-built car did it again – West Philly had won itself another Tour de Sol championship. * The Tuscano Agency has a special relationship with the team. Simon Hauger is Rob and Jinny’s nephew and they are especially proud to provide insurance coverage for the Hybrid Attack.
