Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2016: Racing for the future

NANYANG Technological University’s award-winning 3-D printed car, inspired by “Ghost in the Shell” anime series, was called Robocop Car by the judges.

THE SHELL Eco-marathon Asia, or Sema, has been the most enriching motoring related event I have ever attended in my 12 years in the motoring beat.

Many motoring related activities see our merry group enjoy the newest and latest cars, driving in exotic destinations and experiencing some of the finest food, drinks and accommodations in the planet. Sounds all fine and dandy, but it does nothing to truly enrich oneself.

Invited to be part of the offtrack jury for the special awards, this time, to decide on the best vehicle design, was truly an honor as the City of Manila played host for the third and final time of this momentous event.

In total, 118 teams from 17 countries participated, and the Philippines was well represented by teams from the University of the Philippines (UP), De La Salle University, Ateneo de Davao, University of San Carlos, Technological University of the Philippines, and Technological Institute of the Philippines.

Aside from students and their professor advisers, the event’s opening and flag-off saw VIPs from the diplomatic corps, Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsada, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, and of course, Pilipinas Shell country chair Ed Chua.

Simon Henry, the global CFO of Royal Dutch Shell, also flew in to deliver the keynote address.

These teams were competing in a variety of events: urban concept, which essentially are potential project studies for future mass production cars, and prototypes, the teardrop-shaped super efficient sleds which have drivers lying down.

From these two basic categories, the teams were divided further based on their propulsion system: electric, gasoline, diesel, CNG, alternative fuels (ethanol) and hydrogen.

A total of 12 awards, plus five special offtrack awards (communication, vehicle design for prototype and urban concept, respectively, safety and perseverance) were given. To see the full list of winners, log onto www.shell.com/semasia and click on live results.

TEAM NSTRU won in the prototype battery category.

But Sema 2016 wasn’t just about the students competing on track. Indeed many of my friends will find this boring, certainly not like Formula 1 where cars whizz past you at blinding speeds, another motorsport activity where Shell is heavily involved with together with the Cavallino Rampante, Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team.

Sema 2016 was about forging new friendships.

I was very happy to see many teams from different countries making new friends with each other, borrowing parts, exchanging tech information, giving/lending out tools and other equipment, and trading a few secrets here and there.

FROM left: Royal Dutch Shell CFO Simon Henry, Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsada, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, and Pilipinas Shell country chair Ed Chua flag off the Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2016 participants.

In particular, I saw the UP team exchanging notes, tools, ideas and social media accounts, e-mails and numbers with the Singaporean Nanyang Technological University team members, arguably the best prepared and best funded team with its two entries in the prototype and urban concept categories, both utilizing electric motor for propulsion.

They were the favored team to win in their respective categories, but the kids from Nanyang were very humble, very thorough and very accommodating when I interviewed them.

But the win eluded them, as the Thai-based NSTRU team from Nakhon Si Thammarat Rajabhat University, working with a budget less than a 10th of the Singaporean school, one of the top 2 institutions in Singapore, netted the overall win for the prototype electric category, with an all-conquering 507 kilometers per kilowatt hour.

The Singapore team came in third, with a best 425 km/kwh. BIT Econoclub from Beijing Institute of Technology was second with 442 km/h in the prototype electric category.

NANYANG Technological University’s 3-D printed car team

I was tasked to find the best designed vehicle, ideally something that can see the light of day sometime in the future.

For this, we awarded the prototype category win to NSTRU, whose car, code-named “Simple,” also won on track for the prototype electric category.

I and my partner, Richard Gapain, the head of after-sales from Hyundai Asia Resources Inc., awarded the win to Simple because it was ultimately nothing fancy.

Its simplicity (pardon the pun) meant it was reliable, too. The body is a classic teardrop-shape with Lexan windows and windshield that gave their female driver excellent visibility to allow her to carry as much speed without braking, thereby improving efficiency and economy.

It is made of four layers of carbon-fiber sheets, with high-density polyurethane foam sandwiched in between on crucial load bearing parts to increase strength and rigidity but weighs next to nothing.

And it was all done in-house using hand-laying methods, with vacuum-sealed bags to evacuate excess resin to lighten the structure.

It wasn’t perfect; you could see the seams where they joined the various parts of the chassis, but the work is impressive considering it was all done by college students.

The drivetrain was also truly ingenious: a centripetal drive gear engages the axle’s final drive once throttle is applied.

PUP REPRESENTED the Philippines in the prototype car category.

This is purely mechanical. Once the driver lets off the throttle, the drive gear disengages from the axle’s final drive and allows the vehicle to coast freely without any drag from the electric motor.

The way the drive gear and axle final drive gear also have ingeniously cut gears (looks to be a combination of bevel and helical cut gears), which negates the need for a clutch mechanism, further simplifies the drivetrain. Ingenious, efficient and highly effective indeed!

For the urban concept vehicle, we awarded the win to Nanyang’s 3-D printed car. The chassis is a carbon fiber tub, but the body was made using an ingenious process: ABS plastic blocks roughly 6 inches x 8 inches x 3 inches were individually made using a 3-D printer, and they formed an interlocking structure like Lego blocks, secured further by special adhesives to make a very light and sturdy structure.

A honeycomb weave or pattern was designed into the backside of the ABS plastic blocks to increase torsional rigidity and strength without adding excessive weight into construction.

This is a potential manufacturing technique which car manufacturers can adapt very easily.

To top it off, the students installed wireless communication, live telemetry streaming similar to F1 and other top-level race cars, and Canbus network wiring, just like most modern high-end cars.

But the most inspiring story from this event was from Team BITS from Birla Institute of Technology and Science. This was the second time the team participated.

Last year, the team failed to get their vehicle on track. This year, the team was discouraged by their school to participate, yet the lads did so anyway. However, they did not receive any support or backing.

Birla is a university situated in hostile land. Summer temperatures reach 50 degrees Celsius while winter temperatures dive down to well below zero.

Since the school did not support them, the students had to fund their project from their own pockets. They worked round the clock through the Christmas season, and missed the holidays with family. And they would take a six-hour bus ride to the nearest town just to buy parts.

From their small town, they had to travel through hostile rebel-infested territory, and almost missed their flight as their train route was bombed.

To make it worse, of the seven team participants, four members got their visa application denied at the 11th hour, which meant only three team members made it.

Their lodging was supposed to be split by eight team members too, so now they could not afford to find a place to stay.

Thankfully, a Shell Eco-marathon marshal they befriended last year let them stay for free in the marshal’s home.

The icing on the cake? Once their vehicle arrived, in two separate shipping boxes, many parts were missing or destroyed and it took a long time for their shipment to clear customs.

Despite being lent spare parts, tools and other equipment by other teams on hand, the BITS team failed technical inspection and never got their car out on track again this year, but these boys never ever gave up. Fight to the very end.

Hence it was fitting that they received the Perseverance Award. The standing ovation that Team BITS received at the awarding ceremony was priceless and truly memorable.

It is stories like this, stories of new friendships, stories of friendly rivalry and camaraderie in the spirit of competition, that truly enrich oneself.

I’m sad I was only asked to judge on Shell Eco-marathon Asia’s final year in the Philippines. This is an endeavor I would very much want to be part of.

Shell Eco-marathon Asia is an event that gives us all hope: the region’s best and brightest competing to find the best solution for a power-hungry society that will continue to grow well into the future, and allows us to see beyond nationality, financial standing and skin color to be united and move together, forward and forevermore.

As a bonus, Shell Eco-marathon will be holding a Drivers’ World Championship in London later in July of this year, right after the European Shell Eco-marathon event.

Five teams have been invited to go, and thankfully one of them is from the Philippines. This will be exciting indeed for the Philippines as we get a chance to compete with the best from Asia, Europe and America.