Modify and Race (from The Star)

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Modify and Race (from The Star)

The Star (Please click here for original source)

How does it feel to tear up a brand new car worth almost RM40,000? Just ask the Perodua Eco-Challenge participants.

The competition will see students from 12 institutions of higher learning put their engineering knowledge to work, and modify a Perodua ViVA for the Malacca International Motorsport Circuit race.

The car that travels the longest distance with the least amount of penalities using one litre of Petronas Primax95 will be declared the winner at the race in June.

All geared up: USM students posing for a group photo after the teams received their cars at the ceremony.

The cars, worth RM470,000, were given to the participating teams through balloting witnessed by representatives from the institutions.

Perodua also gave each institution RM10,000 as development fund to carry out the modifications activities before the race.

“We received a lot of positive feedback from last year’s participants, saying that taking part in the competition helped improve their engineering skills,” said Perodua managing director Aminar Rashid Salleh at the ceremony to mark the handing over of the vehicles recently.

The institutions could keep the vehicles after the race for future research and development purposes.

Points would also be given to teams based on their creativity in the modification of the cars, decorations, as well as team spirit.

A total of 27 public and private institutions of higher learning were invited to take part in the contest. Based on the submitted proposals, 12 institutions have been shortlisted.

They are Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten), Universiti Tekonologi Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Universiti Industri Selangor (Unisel) and Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM).

Others include Universiti Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia France Institute (UniKL-MFI), Politeknik Sultan Azlan Shah, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Politeknik Ungku Omar.

The top prize winner in the automatic and manual categories will each receive RM20,000, while the runners-up and third-placed winners will get RM10,000 and RM5,000 respectively.

The first prize winner in the engineering, design and participation category will take home RM10,000, while the second- and third-placed winners will get RM5,000 and RM3,000 respectively.

Higher Education deputy director-general Prof Dr Rujhan Mustafa, who represented Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin at the ceremony, said a competition like this would help train students to be innovative and competent to meet national and global needs.

“It is a win-win situation for all parties involved besides giving the students a chance to learn the practical side of their course.

“Who knows, maybe one of the contestants here may end up inventing the first truly affordable green engine that runs on sea water,” he said.

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