Friday 26 / April / 2024
Manila: Months of hard work paid off as Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) students bagged the fifth place at Shell Eco-marathon 2016 among 34 teams that participated in the gasoline-run prototype category in Manila.
In the fifth and final round, the team miraculously held on to its position among the top five as many other teams recorded high scores, but failed to beat the Omani engineers.
Commenting on the international achievement, Tariq Al Subhi, the team leader, stated that he was so proud to have represented Oman in a major Asian event, not to mention snatching a remarkable place.
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Unlike last year, the SQU team surprised everyone with its performance and even came in third during the five rounds. However, two Vietnamese teams turned the tables in the final round, snatching the third and fourth places.
Tamer Al Siyabi, the 21-year-old team driver, expressed satisfaction with the results, saying, “We successfully implemented all the strategies we learnt on the track.”
Al Siyabi endured high levels of humidity and heat which, according to him, can badly distract and affect any racer during the ten laps which may take 29 minutes
to complete.
It was noted that among more than 100 teams, Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) students were the first team to hit the track of Manila in the prototype category on Friday after smoothly passing the technical inspection.
Ahmed al Hadhrami, a team member, said such an accomplishment was a huge motivation for the SQU team. SQU ECO WHEEL, a gasoline-run car purely made by Omani students at an estimated cost of OMR2,000, can go at a speed of 60 km per hour. The red, white and green machine weighs around 80 kg, which is 20 kg lighter than last year’s model.
The aim of the contest was to design and build a car that will drive the furthest on the smallest amount of fuel or battery power.
Teams of studente may participate in the Prototype or UrbanConcept vehicle categories of the competition. The three Omani teams—SQU, Caledonian College of Engineering, and GUtech—have chosen the Prototype category, which will see student teams entering cars of the future – streamlined vehicles focused on maximising fuel efficiency through innovative design elements, such as drag reduction.
Shell Eco-marathon ended on Sunday with a huge closing ceremony which was held at the Manila Hotel. This year’s record of 281 km/litre was achieved by the SQU which was better than all Arab teams. It’s the highest record for an Arabic team since 2014.
