Members of the UiTM Eco-Sprint team, wearing uniform styled after MAS air crew, showed their appreciation to the attendees after the moment of silence for the airline disasters upon receiving their award.
The exterior design of the UiTM Eco-Sprint vehicle.
Curtin University Sarawak’s team and their vehicle. Luck was not on their side as they failed to land a podium finish.
MANILA: Attendees at the Shell Eco-Marathon Asia 2015 prize presentation ceremony at a hotel here on Sunday observed a 10-second silence to mark the first anniversary of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
This was done upon the request of UiTM Eco-Sprint team from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) upon receiving their trophy for being champions in the Prototype Hydrogen Fuel Cell category.
The team, apart from coming up with a better vehicle to defend last year’s title and a record mileage of 315km/m3, had designed the vehicle’s exterior to resemble a MAS aircraft as a tribute to the MH370 and MH17 aircraft disaster victims and a show of support to their families and friends.
They also donned uniforms styled after the air crew when they came on stage to receive their prizes.
The team’s technical advisor, Zulqarnain Mat Zaki, said they felt moved to create a vehicle inspired by the aircraft disaster when celebrating last year’s success back in Shah Alam, coincidentally on March 8 when the MH370 was reported missing.
“We decided that we must not only come back with a better vehicle to defend our title but also find a way to remember the aircraft disaster victims in this year’s competition,” said Zulqarnain, a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering undergraduate who was last year’s team manager.
On Jan 30, the Department of Civil Aviation declared the missing MH370 as an accident, with all 239 passengers and crew presumed dead. Among those on board was Sarawakian Andrew Nari, who was the chief steward.
MH17, on the other hand, was downed in Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers and crew members.
Meanwhile, the mileage achieved by UiTM Eco-Sprint was one of the five mileage records at Shell Eco-marathon Asia, which was held at a specially designed street circuit in Luneta Park, Manila since Thursday.
Clean Diesel Team from Hyogo Prefectural Tajima Technical Institute, Japan, clinched first place in the Prototype Shell FuelSave Diesel category with a record mileage of 1,245 km/l at the street circuit, more than double last year’s winning score.
Also doubling last year’s result was ITS Team 2 from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember Indonesia, which recorded 153 km/l in the UrbanConcept Shell FuelSave Diesel category.
Two other teams achieving mileage records included Team LH – Gold Energy of Lac Hong University, Vietnam, which won the UrbanConcept Alternative Fuel category with 164 km/l on ethanol, and Prototype Battery Electric champion Team NSTRU Eco-Racing from Nakhon Si Thammarat Rajabhat University Thailand with a mileage of 451km/kWh.
Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and host Philippines dominated the other categories in this competition of innovation, where the teams are challenged to stretch the boundaries of fuel efficiency in a real world urban environment.
The other Malaysian team that emerged champion was from UiTM, too. Its Eco-Planet team defended their title in the UrbanConcept Hydrogen Fuel Cell category after achieving the best mileage of 105.8km/m3. Eco-Voyager team from Universiti Malaya finished second in the Prototype Hydrogen Fuel Cell category, with mileage of 216.0 km/m3.
The Enggang Emas team from Curtin University Sarawak, which competed in the Prototype Battery Electric category, failed to land in the top three, which was dominated by teams from Thailand and Singapore.
A total of 127 teams from 17 countries, including 14 from Malaysia, took part in this competition that was divided into Prototype and UrbanConcept vehicle categories.