As expected after its strong performance last year, Da Yeh University (
Vehicles drew lots for positioning at the San Yang Transport Safety Education Center (
PHOTO: IAN BARTHOLOMEW, TAIPEI TIMES
They battled strong winds during the latter part of the race, which had started out with what organizers said were ideal conditions.
Mechanical problems dogged a couple of seemingly well-designed vehicles, most notably "Miracle 90" from the Chang Hwa Normal University (
"Their main problem is lack of on-the-ground repair experience," said Chang Rong-hua (
Five vehicles were disqualified for exceeding the 10-minute limit allowed for on-track repairs.
Da Yeh was placed in the second wave of cars to hit the track. Their car, "Love is Power," looked strong from the start, with the driver adopting frequent freewheeling tactics, which are permitted under the rules of the supermileage competition.
Despite an ungainly look -- which ruled it out of consideration for any of the design awards -- it completed the 25 circuits of the track without any problems, maintaining a good speed throughout.
"Love is Power" managed to achieve 344.38km to the liter (km/l), considerably ahead of its nearest rival but well short of the record which the school set last year of 757.4km/l.
Some competitors suggested, however, that this record reflects irregularities in the way remaining fuel was measured last year.
This accusation was given some measure of credibility by one of the competition's judges, Huang Ching-hsiung (
In a speech given during the awards presentation he said that this year judges inspected each vehicle independently when the fuel tank was removed.
"Although the results are not as good as last year, they better reflect the true conditions," he said.
Coming in second place with 266.08km/l was "Ahsiuluo" (
This super-light vehicle which weighed just over 30kg also gave itself an edge by the judicious use of freewheeling.
Third place was taken by the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ilan Technical College (
The final vehicle to place was "Ghost" built by Hwa Hsia College of Technology and Commerce (
In the hybrid car category, all entries failed to meet the qualifying distance of 400km/l, although two of the three experimental vehicles looked good on the track.
Da Yeh University again came through with an unattractive looking vehicle, "but the engine was so smooth," said magazine editor Chang, who predicted its victory.
It managed a very reasonable 272.11km/l, way ahead of its closest rival, the sleek and speedy Jingfeng (
Da Yeh was awarded half the original prize money for the category -- NT$10,000 -- for its effort in this still experimental category.
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