RARING TO GO: (From right) Curtin corporate communications officer Marcella Gider, Lim, Rajamohan and other members of the Incredible Team posing with their I-GFE vehicle.
MIRI: A team from Curtin University Sarawak is the sole participant from the state to enter the second Shell Eco-marathon Asia to be held at Sepang International Circuit near Kuala Lumpur next month.
Shell Eco-marathon is a competition that requires students from around the world to design, build and test energy efficient vehicles.
The winners will be teams that can go the farthest using the least amount of energy.
The annual event is also held in America, Europe and Asia. This is the second one organised in Asia.
Curtin Sarawak also represented the state in the first one last year.
The students, aged from 22 to 25, named their team ‘Incredible Team’.
They will be among 121 teams drawn from all over Asia to compete in the event. Leading the Curtin Sarawak team, which comprises Richard Lo Li Zhe, 22; Bernard Huang Chee Soon, 23; Wong Mau Hong, 23; Ho Dong Sun, 25; Yeo Chee Won, 22; Luk Kuok Chii, 22; Low Man Huan, 23; Wong Kwang Yang, 23; Kueh Sze Chiat, 22 and James Chai Chung, is 22-year-old Wilson Lim You Wei (manager).
All of them are final year Mechanical Engineering and Science Faculty students of the university.
Under the supervision of senior lecturer (Mechanical Department,) Rajamohan Ganesan, 40, the students have constructed a vehicle which they named ‘I-GEF’ (Incredible Go For Eco), to race at the competition.
They will be competing in the Prototype Category.
“We are very excited as this is an international level competition. We hope to gain some good experiences from the event and learn something valuable from other participating teams,” said the team manager.
According to him, this would be a good venue for the team to put into practice what they had learned in the past four years, for from there, they would know their strengths and weaknesses.
“We have been sitting in so many lectures. This is our chance to put what we have learned into practice,” he said when met yesterday.
Other members of the team also said they were looking forward to seeing what other teams would present on the race day.
Rajamohan, meanwhile, said he was very proud of the students’ effort in designing and constructing the vehicle.
“The planning started in July last year and the vehicle has been fabricated since Feb this year. It took the team about three months to complete the vehicle.
“We have tested it for two weeks and we are quite happy with the result,” he said.
Compared to the one designed for last year’s competition, Rajamohan said the vehicle this year was far better. It’s lighter and more stable. The one last year weighed 130kg and the present one weighs 115kg and costs about RM16,000 to make.
He said the students spent a lot of time modifying the engine which was taken from a motorcycle, before it was installed into the vehicle.