James Kon
Team Panglima Kilat of Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) and Team Synergy06 from Tanjong Maya Secondary School emerged overall champions in the senior and junior categories of the 5th National STEM and Innovative Design Challenge 2022-2023 at UTB’s multipurpose hall yesterday.
Organised by the Ministry of Education (MoE) through the Science, Technology and Environment Partnership Centre (STEP Centre), the annual national-level competition is open to participation of government secondary schools, technical and vocational institutions and higher educational institutions, who are supplied with Denford machines in order to replicate mini-Formula One (F1) cars.
This year, 23 teams from 13 secondary schools, two from sixth form centres and two from higher educational institutions participated in the challenge, which was divided into two categories – F1 Junior Class and F1 Senior Class.
Deputy Permanent Secretary (Core Education) at the MoE Aliuddin bin Haji Abdul Rahman attended as the guest of honour.
Azilah and Azirah of Team Synergy06 said, “We didn’t expect to become the overall champion. This is really a surprise. We are really happy.
“It took more than seven months to prepare for the competition and we succeeded thanks to the guidance of our teachers. It’s really fun to not just race but also win.”
Meanwhile, Panglima Kilat team manager Nurin Jazlina binti Noramirudin said, “We didn’t expect to be the overall champion.
“Our team name comes from the legacy of our seniors, who were Team Pahlawan and Team Wira. We wanted to keep the legacy alive and call our team Panglima Kilat.”
She added, “It was fun but also challenging. Teamwork and communication were very important in our success. Preparation took us about a year. Manufacturing and testing the car took around four months.”
The second place in the senior category went to Team Kaminari of UTB and in third place was Team MaxVelocity of the Institute of Brunei Technical Education (IBTE) Mechanical Campus.
Meanwhile, second place in the junior category was Team Turbo of Pengiran Jaya Negara Pengiran Haji Abu Bakar Secondary School and the third place went to Team Propulsion of Sayyidina Ali Secondary School.
For Best Reaction Time Award, Team Speed Galaxy (0.129 seconds) of Pengiran Anak Puteri Hajah Rashidah Sa’adatul Bolkiah Secondary School emerged winner in the junior category, and Team Kaminari (0.133 seconds) in the senior category.
For the Fastest Car Award, Team Turbo (0.129 seconds) in the junior category and Team Kaminari (1.099 seconds) in the senior category took the top spot.
Team Synergy06 took home the winning prize for Best Verbal Presentation in the junior category, with Team Panglima Kilat winning in the senior category.
For Best Analysis, the award went to Team Propulsion in the junior category and Team Panglima Kilat in the senior category.
The winner of Best Design Car Award was Team Turbo in the junior category and Team Kaminari in the senior category.
Team Synergy06 also won Best Engineered Car in the junior category and Team Panglima Kilat took home the winner’s prize in the senior category.
The knockout champion went to Team Khalifah Racing Team of Sayyidina Umar Al-Khattab Secondary School. The Best Mentor Award for junior class went to Awangku Muhd Raihan Syafiq bin Pengiran Haji Roslan of Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali and in the senior class, Mohammad Al-Amin Afiq Safwat bin Abarahamn of Sengkurong Sixth Form Centre.
The challenge gave students the opportunity to compete through the process of designing replicas of F1 cars. Students were challenged to produce mini-F1 cars using computer aided design (CAD) software and computer aided manufacturing (CAM) hardware. Students also used software analysis to simulate wind and smoke tunnels.
Meanwhile, also present at the ceremony were Head of STEP Centre Hajah Suriani binti Haji Noor Hashim as well as MoE heads of departments, cluster heads, focal teachers and participants.
