IO, Surabaya – After failing two years in a row, Sapuangin Institute of Technology Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) Surabaya finally won the first prize in the prestigious international Shell Eco Marathon Drivers’ World Championship (DWC) 2018 at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Circuit, London, England, Sunday (8/7) local time.
In this energy-efficient car racing event, the Asian region is represented by three teams all from Indonesia. In addition to ITS Team 2 from Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (Surabaya) with Sapuangin car, there is also Semar Urban team from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and Garuda team from Yogyakarta State University (UNY).
The three teams are Indonesia it has won a ticket to the grandfinal DWC 2018 in London, after being the fastest in the final three DWC Asia 2018 held after the Shell Eco Marathon (SEM) Asia 2018 in Singapore last March. The top three positions in the race have the right to advance to the DWC grand final in London, fighting with the top three from various other regions of the world.
Final race DWC 2018 is held at noon in the summer with a temperature of about 30 degrees Celsius. For some participants who come from a four-season country of course this is a problem in itself. But for Team Sapuangin and other teams from Indonesia, this is not a problem.
In this final race, with a track along the 6.7 km and elevation up and down between three to 12 meters, each team will design its own strategy. “There are faithful keep the speed in the strategy that is measurable because the race takes place in 10 laps. Sapuangin including one of them, “said Billy Firmansyah, Nonteknis Manager Team Sapuangin ITS via message online.
According to Billy, Team Sapuangin ITS deliberately put a strategy by continuing to use medium speed on thelap fi rst. Drivers must set a speed that should not exceed 40 km / h for energy efficiency to be balanced. Even so, ITS is always in the top four leading position. Seeing the condition of fuel is still adequate, Sapuangin step on the gas pedal deeply. “In the lap lap last, Sapuangin finally able to overtake the opponent’s car and managed to occupy the leading position,” he said.
Until lap 10 ends, Sapuangin lead across the finish line. In the giant screen racing monitor written Rangking I Sapu Angin. The members of Team Sapuangin was torn embraced in tears of emotion. However, there has been an uproar behind the achievements that finally achieved ITS. Unilaterally, the committee suddenly declared the new ITS complete nine laps. In fact, there are 10 laps that should be exceeded. As a result, Sapuangin sagged his position to rank 9.
Feeling rigged, Team Sapuangin also protested to the committee supported by fellow teammates from Indonesia, the Urban Semar Team UGM and Team Garuda UNY. “In protest, we include data and videos that record during the race,” explained Billy. After the committee discussed considering all the evidences, finally when the time of awarding arrived at the end of the event, the championship trophy I DWC 2018 was successfully brought home by Sapuangin Team ITS.
General Manager of Team Sapuangin ITS, Rafi Rasyad expressed his joy after his team succeeded in winning the competition to compete this energy-efficient car. “This is a remarkable achievement,” said Rafi touched. With relentless gratitude, he felt the hard work of the team and supervisor for months has been paid off. He also felt happy to be able to present the best achievement, not only for the alma mater of ITS but also for Indonesia.
Rafi expressed his gratitude for the support provided by many parties, both morally and materially. “We would like to thank Shell Indonesia for full support for Team Sapuangin ITS to our car as the fastest and energy efficient car in the world,” said Rafi who also delivered through an online message.
Finally, the good cooperation between team members, efforts and prayers has yielded encouraging results. “We became champions as the fastest and the cheapest car, and can beat the Sask Eco UC team from Canada and the INSA de Toulouse team from France who occupy the second and third position,” said Moch Hafis Habibi, driver of Sapuangin Team ITS proud. (ITS)