A car designed by a team from the November 10 Institute of Technology (ITS) Surabaya, East Java, came out on top at the Shell Eco-Marathon grand final in London. Divided into two competitions – the Mileage Challenge and the Drivers’ World Championship – the event brought together young engineers who sought to break energy efficiency records.

 

143 teams 🚘 24 countries 🏁 1 dream 🏆 #shellecomarathon comes back to London bringing together young engineers to break energy efficiency records #makethefuture #engineeringlife #STEM #engineering #racing

A post shared by Royal Dutch Shell (@shell) on Jul 8, 2018 at 6:11am PDT

The team with the winning design, Sapuangin, arrived in London earlier this month along with another Indonesian team. They were welcomed by the Indonesian Embassy in London. They brought in Sapuangin XI EXO 2, a racing car designed to meet the UrbanConcept energy efficiency requirements for the race.

 

[Drivers' World Championship] Day two! We arrived at the venue with a lot of preparation. We started technical inspection in the morning and passed successfully. Keep in touch with us to support us! #shellecomarathon #shellecomarathoneurope #makethefuture #shellecomarathon2018 #driversworldchampionship #shelleurope #indonesia #gnfi #internationalcompetition

A post shared by ITS TEAM SAPUANGIN (@itsteamsapuangin) on Jul 5, 2018 at 5:10am PDT

According to Shell’s Make the Future website (https://uk.makethefuture.shell/shell-eco-marathon.html), for the Shell Eco-Marathon Drivers’ World Championship this year, each [competing] vehicle was limited to a certain amount of energy. The winning car had to cross the finish line without running out of energy.

Sapuangin’s driver won the race on July 8 at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, validating the team's previous win at Shell Eco-Marathon Asia. The driver, therefore, earned the title of Most Efficient Driver.

 

[Drivers' World Championship] "There is no gain without pain" is something that also happened to us on the DWC 2018. The car riden by Hafis Habibi had technical damage on the steering wheel which was broken. Fortunately the team could repairing it as fast as they could. With the help of Bagiyo, Habibi was able to control the car energy combustion nicely until he reached the first position. Eventhough the committee did a wrong announcement about the winner in the relevant category, which is should be belonged to Indonesia (ITS Team Sapuangin) with the team of Canada. But We are the REAL CHAMPION OF DRIVER'S WORLD CHAMPIONSIP GRAND FINAL, Normal Koch, the General Manager of Shell Eco Marathon, said that it is an honor for Shell that Indonesia is having great achievements, especially on the great technical improvements and strategies of ITS Team Sapuangin. Besides, Shell is about to give a special event for the winning teams to let them feeling the joy. #shellecomarathon #shellecomarathoneurope #makethefuture #shellecomarathon2018 #driversworldchampionship #shelleurope #indonesia #gnfi #internationalcompetition

A post shared by ITS TEAM SAPUANGIN (@itsteamsapuangin) on Jul 9, 2018 at 11:03pm PDT

“Our team has worked hard with the support of our mentoring lecturer months before the race, and now the work has paid off,” said Sapuangin general manager Rafi Rasyad in a press release on Monday.

Kompas.com reported that the Sapuangin car outran eight other cars from three other continents. Canada’s Sask Eco UC and France’s Toulouse Ingenierie Multidisciplinaire came in second and third, respectively.

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Sapuangin posted on their Instagram account a story about the challenge behind their victory. There was a technical issue that caused the steering wheel to break, but it was repaired quickly.

Darwin Silalahi, the president director and country chairman of Shell Indonesia, expressed pride and happiness over the team’s victory. (mut)