Two student teams from Northview Heights Secondary School in North York and a team from Danforth Collegiate and Technical Institute beat out 16 other Toronto-area high school teams to win, place and show in a unique skills competition that tested students' automotive technical knowledge.

Kevin Birchall and Eric Salb performed a number of timed technical tasks and attempted to start a 2009 Volkswagen New Beetle Convertible that had been rigged with a no-start condition by automotive instructors from Centennial College. The Canadian International AutoShow hosted the competition on Feb. 11. By finishing first, the pair will be representing Canada at the National Automotive Technology Competition in New York City in April.

In addition to the all-expenses-paid trip, Birchall and Salb collected a trophy and equipment from sponsors. Northview Heights was also represented by Brandon Muff and Vali Ion, who finished second. Toronto's Danforth Tech finished third, thanks to the efforts of students Jordan Ho and Tauriq Shaikh.

Both schools were big winners, too. Their auto tech classes will take delivery of a General Motors vehicle, which will be used for technical training. General Motors of Canada donated two brand-new vehicles as prizes.

This was the 10th year for the contest, organized by Centennial's School of Transportation, which promotes automotive technology as a rewarding career path. Last year's winners, Janos Mann and Julien Predas from Central Technical School, went on to beat all of the American schools at the New York competition and took home $250,000 in prizes and scholarship money!

Despite the economic downturn, the Toronto skills contest continues to enjoy outstanding support from the industry. Sponsors include: TADA, the Canadian International AutoShow, General Motors Canada, Volkswagen Canada, Snap-On/Sun Tools, Consulab, Canadian Tire, PartSource, Ryder Truck, Thomson Nelson, Pearson Education, AutoKnowledge, TecMate and Centennial College.

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