A group of 35 students from the UTM Department of Automotive Engineering secured first place in the engineering category in the Perodua Eco-Challenge 2011 competition.

The group, known as  “Forward”  took home a cash prize worth RM15, 000 and third place prize worth RM1, 000 for the category of design in the contest which lasted for two days beginning June 25 at the Malacca International Motorsports Circuit (MIMC), Ayer Keroh, Malacca.

Group Advisor, Dr Nurulakmar Abu Hassan said, three categories were contested namely the farthest distance, engineering and design and they were delighted to have won two of the categories.

“Perodua has changed the format for this year where each team was given a 660 horse power manual transmission engine, gearbox and cash of RM17, 500 to develop the prototype model to compete,” she said.

In 2009 each team was provided with a Myvi car and Viva in 2010 to take part in the same categories.

“We are satisfied to take on the podium in the competition this time due to our hard work to diversify innovation and generate income to cover the entire cost of the competition.

“In the first competition in 2009, UTM can only secured fourth place in the longest distance category and this year’s victory is a very meaningful one for all of us,” said the lecturer in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

Second place in engineering category went to Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and the third belong to Malaysian Institute of Spain that brought home RM10, 000 and RM5, 000.

A total of 12 teams from various Public and Private Higher Learning Institutions and Polytechnic took part in this tournament.