Institut Teknologi Bandung

In the SEM 2014, there are several race categories in accordance with the alternative choice of fuel used in the vehicle. One of them is a vehicle which uses 100% of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) as its alternative biodiesel fuel. This alternative fuel was used by Cikal Team for their vehicle design. In this race, the vehicle which was design by Cikal Team achieved a fuel consumption of 120 kilometers per liter. The consumption of fuel was test by driving the vehicle on the track with the total length of 12 kilometers under 29 minutes. After that, the consumption of fuel was measured by the competition's committee.

The Cikal Team whose members are Felix Jonathan, Aristya Pratama, Andreas Hartoyo Yaputra, Andreas Ang (Mechanical Engineering 2009), Erwin Yulizar Herdiawan (Mechanical Engineering 2010), Agung Dhammaratana (Electrical Engineering 2010), and Erdevin Prima Basten (Mechanical Engineering 2011), did several innovation to their vehicle design. They innovated the monocoque design, a design where the vehicle's chassis combined and become one entity with the vehicle's frame. The advantages of this design are the enhanced strength of the frame, and the evenly distributed force of loads. This led to de reduction of material in the vehicle design, without losing its strength. Therefore, the vehicle could be made lighter and more efficient. Cikal Team also conducted a careful selection for its material, with a deep of consideration about weight comparison to the material strength and the occurred loading. This made Cikal Team was able to create a not only safe but also light vehicle design.

The alternative designed vehicle from Cikal Team certainly couldn't be made and finished in a short time and without a hard struggle. The production itself had commenced in July 2013 under the supervision of Dr. Ir. Sangriyadi Setio. During the preparation, the team had dedicated a lot of time for the race competition. Various weather, from the heat of hot weather to heavy rain was faced in order to develop the energy-efficient vehicles which was about to be contested. Cikal Team kept continued their work during the examination period, and also during the holiday semester. "Although we did not win the first place, I am very grateful to the team and to all who have helped us during the preparation of the race," said Jonathan Felix (Mechanical Engineering 2009), the manager of Cikal Team.

At the end of the interview, Felix also shared their key of winning was the solid and good teamwork, deep preparation, qualified research, and the high morale. "The opportunity to participate in this kind of race competition and compete with other countries as college students is a rare opportunity. Not everyone can be as lucky as us to compete in this competition," said Felix. Therefore, Felix gave advise to use our time as students wisely as effective as possible to innovate and to compete for the nation and the alma mater