UPDATE: Full gallery added after the jump.
Politeknik Ungku Omar has won the 2011 Perodua Eco Challenge, held over the weekend at Melaka International Motorsports Circuit (MIMC). The team from Ipoh managed to squeeze 24.07 km from just half a litre of Petronas Primax 95 Xtra petrol, beating closest challengers Universiti Industri Selangor (Unisel, 19.1 km) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM, 17.42 km).
PUO took home RM20,000 cash for their efforts, while Unisel and USM won RM10,000 and RM5,000 respectively. In the Engineering category, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) took home RM15,000 for bagging the top place ahead of USM and Universiti Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia Spanish Institute.
In the minor “Design and Participation” category, Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) took home RM5,000 as the chosen team. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and UTM were second and third.
In the previous two editions, USM took top honors in the automatic category, so they should be a little disappointed at not meeting their “25 km and above target”. They were banking on their ace card, which is cylinder deactivation for the supplied 660 cc three-pot engine. Their simple looking 370 kg machine ran on only one cylinder full time, logical since this “race” doesn’t require much power or speed.
By the way, this year’s PEC is a much tougher challenge, as teams were only given one engine and one (manual) gearbox, as opposed to a complete car in previous years. This means that instead of just stripping and modifying Vivas, students have to also work on chassis and bodywork. And because of this extra work, the seed money given to each team has increased from last year’s RM10k to RM17,500. Also, instead of one litre, they now have to squeeze miles out of 0.5 litres of fuel.
The winning team’s lean machine on skinny tyres relied on measures such as a fuel tank that’s “ngam ngam” in size, with minimal space for air and a very lean 22:1 air fuel ratio, according to team leader Mohd Azmi.
Each team had their own focus – the Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten, last year’s M/T winner) team worked hard on CFD, and were proud of their car’s 35:65 weight distribution, enthusiastic second year Mechanical Engineering student Tan Win Yew told me.
Another team that mentioned “good handling” was Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), whose car had all round double wishbone suspension and 40:60 weight distribution. The logic is that a car that can corner well and relatively fast can maintain momentum by minimising the need to brake.
Some other things caught the eye of yours truly. This year’s grid had a female driver in the small frame of Nur Effarini. The pint sized final year Mechanical Engineering student weighs just 45 kg, in contrast with the big guy driving for PUO. She should have weighed even less after the race, as the UTM car was stuck on the steaming grid for quite some time due to an electrical glitch (according to a team member). It started in the end, and they went home with smiles and cash.
Another eye catcher was the “Lotus Elise” of UKM. In contrast with the skeleton look of rivals, they wanted to do a “body that can be commercialised”, which according to them was part of the original regulations, including closed wheels. Apparently, the rules changed, but they stuck to the plan. The batik cabin is questionable, but it’s not easy to fabricate that body in a short time. But because of the extra weight, they were never really in contention.
Another looker for me is the “Caterham style” white Unisel car with orange stripes. Tanjung Malim based Politeknik Sultan Azlan Shah had the most outrageous looking car on the grid. Their hot rod style “classic car concept” didn’t look too lightweight and aerodynamic, though.
The Perodua Eco Challenge is one of the more unique CR initiatives in town, challenging student minds and allowing them an outlet to experiment, and be hands on in practising what they learn from books. Congratulations to the winning teams, see you again next year in Melaka!
Full gallery from the event is after the jump. Spot anyone you know?
[zenphotopress number=999 album=2342]
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Congratulations!!!! Malaysia Boleh>>>>>>
Yahaha.. bad news for proton huh.. i think myvi 1.5 will have better sale than saga fl 1.6. Fuel efficient i believe would b very good for myvi 1.5. Price.. ermmm not bad.. for some people maybe high.. maybe ok ok.. hehe.
UMP car so ugly. haish who design d car? FKM tido ke??
ape2 pun aku tetap sayang UMP ku,hehe
ugly tapi menang.. camne tuh -ex ump jgak :)
Overall, very good first year effort by all teams considering they’re given only several months (about 6 months?) to prepare.
Some of my observations:
1. USM car was running on single cylinder Atkinson cycle with modified piston crown which allows better flow and higher compression ratio.
2. Only 1 team was running true cylinder deactivation, which is Universiti Teknologi Petronas. They ran 1 cylinder on the straight section and 2 cylinders on the corners. Other teams simply ‘terminate’ one or two cylinders without option of re-activating them. Not sure how they control the air fuel ratio and how the oxygen sensor is installed.
3. One Polytech team is a bit too creative using their used assignment paper to fabricate the body.
4. UTM car body is superb! Only team with carbon fibre body and a claim Cd of 0.25 (which is really low for open style formula car).
5. Polytech Ungku Omar is really good… No nonsense approach, get the car ready as soon as possible then focus on the engine performance. I heard they overhaul the engine 3 times, using higher compression ratio and running only on 2 cylinders.
6. One car from another Polytech is ‘pimping’…. classic car style body and cheetah fur seat.
i want to make correction.. the first driver name for UTM is Effarini while the second driver for utm is Amirul… UTM have a back up driver… huhu…
0.25 at what speed?
I don’t know… you have to ask UTM. I just saw their poster. I am assuming at lower than 60 km/h coz that’s most likely the max speed they want to achieve on the MIMC track.
do you know what coefficient of drag (Cd) means??
i believe many people does not know what is Cd drag factor. let us share some facts
it is the rate of air flow against a shape, compare to a flat surface of a cube (1.00 Cd).
the lower the figure, the lesser the drag and improve fuel economy.
* do not confuse these with fitting spoilers. they spoiled the airflow to increase downforce (improve traction)
spoiler is to ‘spoil’ the the airflow so that less turbulence vortices created. Jargonly it helps to keep the laminar flow attached to the wetted area, hence keep the streamline flows attached and delays the turbulence flow
macha oo macha, GT wing la creates downforce…nvm la, regard this as info since you are being honest sharing info with others, unlike some arrogant people here bashing like they got countless and ball-less of internet degrees.
Keep it up son!
2. Only 1 team was running true cylinder deactivation, which is Universiti Teknologi Petronas. They ran 1 cylinder on the straight section and 2 cylinders on the corners. Other teams simply ‘terminate’ one or two cylinders without option of re-activating them.
4. UTM car body is superb! Only team with carbon fibre body
p/s: is this right? better check twice b4 wrote…lol
No 2 is correct. I was there and visited all the booths and some of the other cylinder deactivations are just termination of cylinder(s) with no options of re-activating them during race. Only one team constantly turn their cylinder(s) on and off during the race.
No 4 is just based on my observation. I don’t see any other carbon fiber body unless you are confused with fibreglass body.
wow…wht a guuuddd design…hehe..wonder if student from oversea univ. (take from japan,korea,europe)see this…wht would they think?~~
do u ever see what oversea univ make car look like….
There is the Formula SAE….
good puo! now can p2 follow puo to create better handling cars in future? ;p
Fun. albeit ugly looking. Kingdown School in UK won a Mallory Park Mileage Marathon with a 1980mpg car. Highschoolers.. seriously guys you need to do better.
But for local malaysian standard…ok already.
But seriously. Where are the design teams from previous solar challenge teams? Whatever worked for them will work in principle for this with the only difference being the powertrain.
no totally different
You’re talking about something similar to Shell EcoMarathon… Different race, different engine, different speed requirement… Realistically, this Perodua EcoChallenge is much better coz using production car engine and there are many things we can learn (and can be applied on road cars) from what these students accomplished: true cylinder deactivation (UTP), very lean combustion (PUO), Atkinson cycle + higher compression ratio (USM), aerodynamics enhancement = Cd reduction (UNITEN & UTM), sturdy space frame chassis almost meet FIA regulation with main roll hoop, front hoop, impact attenuator, etc.
Whereas in the Shell EcoMarathon, most competitors are using less sturdy chassis (even some are using weak aluminum alloy, not 7075), only using grass cutter type engine less than 50cc and weight is below 160 kg, height is lower than 1.0 meter… good for show, but I don’t want to bee seen dead in one.
it is not the same formats or regulations and they can reach that figure probably with hybrid system or whatsoever.
do you know that the regulation said not external power allowed and no hardcore mods on the engine?
and the gas only 0.5liter i bet the calculations are different compared to the so called highschoolers…1980mpg is impressive, but did they try on ACTUAL 1980 miles?????
sniff.. google it, internet nerdie!
sudah2lah bangga dgn orang luar brader, lu macam amik engineering ckp mcm
power. setakat tau ade internet degree with wikipedia 101 lu rase pandai gile la sembang engineering? ntah2 lu kantoi fizik spm, lps usha wikipedia baru sembang kencang..
btw guys, average speed of 40kmh is not an aerodynamic concern, only for aestatic look is ok.. there must be reasons why they could get the solar tech know-how or whatsoever into materials…..be supportive will ya?
i’m keen to meet guy like you in person so i can downgrade you into a fking retarded loner, so that you may learn how to respect people’s effort and supportive of your own young generations..
please respect other people’s hardwork.
they can do better…..but do you guy want they use “your money aka ur tax” for this event as most ipta/ipts are gov funded..of course u dont want
What’s wrong with using ‘our tax money’ for event like this? This is training ground for our future engineers. What they need is more of ‘our tax money’ and more participating institutes. Inventors, researchers and engineers are the hardcore assets of any developed countries.
Cars without sterring wheel, gearbox, seats, etc doesnt count. And come on, do you really believe that the car is built by those kids ALONE?! I mean come on! The car weight just 40KG, even my my golden retriever can push that car over.
avg weight all the cars 140 kg la bodoh!
I think there is a mistake in the article, the only team with 40:60 weight distribution and double wishbone for front and rear suspensions is UTP and not UiTM.
I was there… some teams are close to 40:60 but not quite… The only team I saw with 40:60 weight distribution is UTP (after weight in session, not claim by the teams).
ye ke bro? eh! how you know?
My friend corrected me. UiTM is 39:61 lah… and also Uniten is 35:65. But the only 40:60 is UTP.
Here are the preliminary inspection results at the venue (before modifications). Second column is weight, third column is weight distribution Front:Rear:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/221/pec1.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/684/pec2.jpg/
Proud to be an ex- student of the Ungku Omar Polytechnic! ;-)
duhh, did UiTM participate?
We built a car for the wrong occasion and wrong customer. That’s why tak laku. Lesson learnt.
takdak nilai komersial la design diorg ni..
mmg la pun..ini kan pertandingan fuel efficiency la pun..abg pandai pun
Congratulations. Even for Diploma / Polytechnic students, with great Lecturer, they manage to win something like this.
This shows that great lecturer produce great students..
shiok sendiri….
This is simply awesome.
It shows that critical thinking still exists in our unis.
However where is UM?
As a UM graduate many years ago, it makes me sad that UM is never in competitions like this.
Good job Politeknik Ungku Omar!!
what if, running another edition of race… a race of speed… for example… fastest 10 laps. or we can alternate the race.. this year is to promote best efficient, longest running vehicle, next year speed race… then back to best efficient, longest running vehicle… :)
What they could do is try to add a few events: 1. Fastest single lap time (best handling car with good engine performance will win, of course driver must be good), 2. Acceleration event & braking, 3. Slalom (figure 8 track), 4. Perhaps to really test reliability and real fuel economy, have these cars run for about 3 hours (3 drivers), let see who get the most laps and best fuel consumption. This is better than just 0.5 L fuel event.
Sound like Formula SAE (US)/Formula Student (EU) to me… I guess that’s much better compare to this one. I’m not saying this is nothing but most of the invention & modification seem useless to me. I mean like its only for winning purpose rather that giving a thought to the academics & industries.
Some people may argue saying this is just good for Malaysian standard & hate when others compare to other country. But, that’s the measurement on what level we are. Hopefully this is just a datum line for us (Malaysian) to step forward..
*what did Keiichi Tsuchiya said about Malaysia drift scene? “it was like Japanese 10 years ago..” Do not blame him for his statement as we always got crisis on motorsports expecially on sponsorship/funding issues. At lease we know where we are & improvise
http://www.flickr.com/photos/i_projex/
“I’m not saying this is nothing but most of the invention & modification seem useless to me.”
I have to disagree with this… actually there are a few ideas that can be developed further: camshaft mod to run on Atkinson cycle, higher compression ratio and very lean combustion and even the cylinder deactivation (if it’s reliable). Its much better than most fuel saving gadgets offered in the market.
Their car is better than Jeremy Clarkson electric box car :P
big univercities lose to some polytechnic… theory is not everything eh?
the uniten car looks the most el cheapo!…no budget or what???..wakakaka
tak baca habis ni… every team received RM17,500 + an engine and a gearbox for their budget. up to the team itself how to fully exploit what has been given.
malaysian… malaysian…
why dont you show some support and encourage these students with their achievement…
ini tak… kutuk lagi ada… if you are condemning this people… you are in fact condemning yourself… because you grow with same system as theirs…
so sad looking at the face of the UTM girl driver, their car cudnt start properly at the start line.
The BIG question is: What’s after the competition?
Apply knowledge into practice and use it the real use in the auto industry?
or
just kiss the medal, happy-happy for-the-photo-session and put the car in display / storeroom later?
Any industrial player should absorb them I believe.Should they give a chance and bring them to a greater height.
I think the point is to give students hands on experience in actually developing something and competing rather than just learning theory and limited hands on lab work. Creativity, competitiveness, budgeting (time and money), communications, teamwork and independence can’t be learned from theory.
If Perodua gains something commercially from these competitions then good for them. We always complain about our graduates so I hope this competition produces more dynamic graduates (and lecturers indirectly) rather than the typical straight-A student who doesn’t know what to do in the real world.
true man……..it just like during our kindergarten time…..all those automotive related nursery rhyme for what …it’s doesn’t contribute to the auto industry……….scrap the nursery rhyme
That’s nearly 50km/Litre. Variable cylinder management (VCM)? Fantastic job :)..!!
The car that could not start won the engineering competition?! No wonder Perodua’s own R&D didn’t win, engineering is clearly not something they understand. Irregardless of how innovative they were in other areas, a car that does not start does not display good engineering. Speaking of innovation, their engine – USM’s idea, impact attenuator – FSAE approved design (literally can be obtained from their website), body shell – like every other FSAE car before them. This is also not the first time they’ve experienced trouble on the track, if I’m not mistaken, in last year’s competition, they were the first to stop, also due to an electrical glitch.
I am impress that some of the universities and poly can beat the engineers at the perodua. This is the product of the local universities and we should be proud of. Not all students, it doesnt matter from overseas or local, can do this huge amount of work. Do you think you can construct a better car in limited amount of time and money? Not forgetting analysis on body structure, chassis, engine, suspension etc. Its a lot of impressive works for someone not graduating yet not to mention have no experience. You should also take into account of the judges in the competition. All of them have experiences and knowledges in respective fields. They have felt that some deserve to win more than others because they display the needed skills on certain category. Anyway, do you even there during the competition? If you did not know the full story, I suggest you try to investigate before you form a negative opinions about others. If you do not have the time or the desire to investigate, I suggest you to let the matters drop before you made an even bigger fool of yourself.
sorry to say..u have to be professional in judging people.. u are even not there.. utm students did not say a word about how and why their car have electrical problem. even during the race every1 on the team never give up to solve the problem..but after 15minutes the car is moving..somehow they are already disqualified..
did u ever heard utm students complaining? they are disqualified from the race but still calm.. because they know nothing can be done by complaining after the race.. i’m happy for them because they win 2 categories.. i wonder how they performed if their car was in the race.
can you be a little supportive?
like you can do any better!
at least those students had given a try; you?
a true empty fat ass can you are.
I advise you to get a grip of knowledge on giving comments constructively coz what you did here helps nothing.
basically, some of engineering designs are lingering around the same fundamentals. example, similar FBD used to analyse structures.
“engineering is clearly not something they understand.”
LOL
do you understand engineering-clearly?
prove to me if you are any good.
1st task, FBD of an impact attenuator in operation.
i’m an ex-PUO DTK 97 . Proud of you guys..
although UTP did not win any placing in the competition, but knowing that UTP is the team that employed true cylinder deactivation, it still makes me proud~ and please do not bash these students (the participants from all institutes), they managed to come out with something although constrained by the budget limitation and etc. to the winning team, congratulations!
this is the event that we expect to see in near future~ not just some lame non-productive events like reality shows~ we have too much of that~ kudos to Perodua for their dedication in organizing this event!
UTM win in angineering category. proud to be ex UTM
Hopefully those who participated will graduate and become engineers or researchers and actually help in the advancement of the automotive industry. Don’t apply KPLI and become Math teachers. And don’t let envious senior engineers at the plant crush your dreams too.
This competition was really good to enhance students skills..big thanks to PERODUA and Universities and Polytechnic dat participate in this program..diz is d pltform for the Malaysian students..do support them..don’t just criticizing and let people down..although some people did not have chance to win but at least you learn a lot!!..this is really a valuable and great experience to all that participate.
http://unikl.org/2011/06/26/tahniah-kepada-kontinjen-perodua-eco-challenge-2011/
When can we compete at the same level as the one organized by DARPA of the USA? We’re talking about autonomous vehicle.
p.u.o the best…..
Take this Perodua Challenge for what it wants to achieve- giving students a chance to apply their knowledge and skills into building an economical vehicle. For this we must say it is job well done and money well spent. I am sure for this competition there is a max budget to be fair and competitive.
the Shell EcoMarathon is up next month and I am sure there are a number of MY unis competing with others from Asia. some engineering students are surely very busy competing for two events so close to each other. :=)
puo puo puo….politeknik ungku omar
so what if they organize some events….
they will continue to make poor quality cars that roll out their factory leaking oil heavily!