Team Phl gears up for Shell Eco-Marathon

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Team Philippines, composed of the brightest engineering students and professors from De La Salle University-Manila, Technological Institute of the Philippines-Manila and Quezon City, University of the Philippines-Diliman and the University of San Carlos, kicks off its global campaign for sustainable and efficient energy as it vies in the Shell Eco-Marathon (SEM) 2012 firing off today at the Sepang International Circuit here.

“We are proud that Team Philippines is participating for the third time in the Shell Eco-Marathon. Taking off from last year’s success, we are raring to make the country proud once more with a new batch of promising and dedicated young engineers who will take part in the global campaign for sustainable and efficient energy,” said NGO and Stakeholder Relations manager Ronald Suarez.

The six-team Phl contingent has racked up several awards in the SEM with Team UP bagging the Diesel Fuel Award last year and Mapua’s Team Amihan placing second in the Safety Award. In 2010, Team Phl also came away with special off-track awards, including second place in Safety Award for Mapua’s Team Atlanta. Team Don Bosco also earned a Special Recognition for demonstrating safety compliance.

The Phl delegation, composed of two teams each from La Salle and TIP and one each from UP and USC, went through various briefings yesterday and had their cars prepared for inspection for today’s test runs.

They will go up against schools from 18 other countries in Asia where the field will showcase their innovations and make as many attempts as they can to go the furthest on the equivalent of a single liter of fuel.

The three-day event has two categories, the Prototype and Urban Concept with the former putting emphasis on fuel efficiency and streamlined vehicle design and the latter on fuel efficiency with more practical vehicle designs.

Teams including the Golden TIP Engineers and UP will be fielding in vehicles for the Urban Concept category.

Meanwhile, USC’s Team Lahutay, TIP’s Team Mileage, and DLSU’s Team Proto and Ice will feature vehicle designs for the Prototype category.