Big competition of Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) Japan 2017 welcomes the arrival of two UGM teams, Arjuna and Bimasakti Pertamina. Competing in the same competition, Arjuna and Bimasakti bring the name of Indonesia and Universitas Gadjah Mada in this prestigious event. Arjuna team flew to Japan through Jakarta on Friday (1/9) while Bimasakti team followed a day later.
Arjuna team deserves to be called as one of UGM best teams because they are the only team which represents Indonesia for Electric Vehicle category in Student Formula Japan (SFJ) 2017 as their first debut international competition. Since 2016, Arjuna team has made a design of their 5th car generation. After performing research and design improvement, Arjuna started to making their electric car named as E-13 at the end of 2016. The team also makes a report regarding car equipment including design, materials, and other aspects that will be presented in static events competition categories such as design report, cost report, and business logic case.
E-13 made by Arjuna team was released on August 12, 2017, simultaneously with the closing ceremony of UGM New Students Induction 2017. The release was symbolically done by the ribbon cutting by UGM Rector, Prof. Ir. Panut Mulyono, M.Eng., D.Eng. at Grha Sabha Pramana courtyard. In front of thousands of UGM new students, Arjuna team performed a campaign on the eco-friendly mission through the development of their electric car which does not emit exhaust emissions.
“After being released, we perform a test drive to directly know the car characteristics and try the parameter that produces the best performance. Moreover, we also fix the failure,” said one of Arjuna team members, Kukuh Setyo Raharjo, through short text message after arriving in Japan with his 23 colleagues.
Having the same fighting spirit, Bimasakti team also been preparing themselves to join FSAE Japan 2017 since September 2016. After coming back from SFJ 2016 where they succeeded to achieve 3 awards which are The ASEAN Best Team, 3rd Efficiency for ICV category, and 3rd Overseas Team that was awarded to the best team which came from outside Japan, Bimasakti directly made preparation to obtain more achievements in SFJ 2017.
They keep improving the car design and performance based on research, until finally, their car named as BM-6 was officially released by UGM Rector and the Director of Student Affairs, Dr. Senawi, M.P. in UGM main office courtyard on August 17, 2017. One of Bimasakti team members, Fajar Fitrahadi Danda said the team had performed a good preparation using 4 design principals which are Lightweight, Efficient, Swift, and Ergonomic. Through these excellent principals, his team is optimistic to achieve the best result in SFJ that will be held on September 9, 2017.
“This year, Bimasakti Pertamina UGM team has a target to achieve Top 15 Overall Result, Efficiency Award, Business Presentation Award, and JAMA Chairman Award,” said Fajar.