Formula experience in the United Kingdom
The Moratuwa Uni team explaining how their machine works - Pix by Amila Gamage
Sri Lanka for the first time in history, will participate in ‘Formula Student 2016′, the worlds biggest student motorsport competition to be held in iconic Silverstone Circuit, known to be the home of British motorsport from July 14th to 17th. The competition is expected to feature over 3,000 students, 5,000 attendees, 250 industry professionals and over 130 universities from 30 countries. The challenge for this highly competitive competition was taken over by the students of Mechanical Engineering Department of University of Moratuwa. The team members are known as the ‘Shark’. Last Thursday they unveiled the racing car built by ‘Shark’ team , the D-MORA P1.
It was a great pleasure to see the project finally achieving the objective when the beast D-MORA P1 roared into the hall. Harshana Kelasha, is the project chairman of the D-MORA P1, quipped.” The invitation to participate in this competition, was sent to our University many years back. But some of our previous batches ventured out to achieve their ambition but abruptly they had to halt it. One other reason was there was no financial support at that time to proceed in the competition. Our Mechanical Engineering lecturer Sasiranga De Silva, mentioned there was a such competition, and many batches before attempted and failed.
So last year we commenced the project, and now it has become a success story. Apart from Harshana, there are 17 other students who will travel for the competition. All these students are experts on each component of the car.” When the article on their attempt to participate appeared on The Sunday Times dated September 13th last year, caught the eye of Vijitha Bandara, Director of Diesel and Motor Engineering( DIMO) PLC. Since then DIMO PLC are solely behind on the project to be a success. The complete funding was done from their end. If not for Bandara, it was highly doubtful whether these talented students will achieve the final objective.
Bandara stated .”Although we’re a small nation, Sri Lanka has always produced world-class individuals across different fields of expertise – be it sports, science, engineering or any other field.the team had put in countless hours of hard work at the DIMO workshop premises and were given complete access to the company’s resources including classrooms, state-of-the-art equipment and machinery for this project. Additionally, Team ‘Shark’, was given expert advice and guidance and had complete access to facilities at DIMO’s Siyambalape premises in order to build the car”.
This is indeed a proud moment not only for DIMO and the University of Moratuwa but for all Sri Lankans. We wish Team ‘Shark’ and their exciting creation – the D-MORA P1– the very best as they race to the finish line in their attempt to showcase the outstanding engineering talents of Sri Lanka to the world.” He later handed over the Airline tickets to all the 18 students who will travel to United Kingdom.