Sikat II... fuelled by solar energy and powered by Filipino ingenuity

A Philippine team will join the World Solar Challenge, a friendly competition where cars, powered only by solar and kinetic energy, race from Darwin to Adelaide October 16 – 22 this year.

The Challenge’s main objective is to draw attention to the imperatives of sustainable transport–like solar and electric-powered vehicles ~ in response to global climate change.

The event is one of the most prestigious of its kind, and attracts the best technical universities and colleges worldwide.

Tokai University (Japan), University of Michigan (United States), and Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands), the top three in the last WSC race in 2009, have recently reported that they are sending solar-powered cars with test top-speed of 120kph.

WSC organisers have reported that as of closing date, May 31, there are 42 entries (subject to qualifying) to the October event.

More than a 3,000-km journey challenge

Contestants in the World Solar Challenge undertake a roughly 3,000 kilometre journey, commencing at 8:30am on October 16 at the Darwin Town Hall. Once the teams leave Darwin via the Stuart Highway, they must travel as far as they can until 5 pm, and then camp out in the desert or anywhere they stop.

During the journey, there will be seven 30-minute mandatory check points, usually at Katherine, Alice Springs, Dunmarra, Tenant Creek, Coober Pedy, Glendambo and Port Augusta but these may change depending on the organisers’ final decision.

Team managers may update themselves on the weather and their own positions in the field. Only the most basic of maintenance can be performed – checking and maintenance of tyre pressure and cleaning of debris from the vehicle

The finish line is at Victoria Square in Adelaide.

The race is not all about speed. As in other races, contestants’ skills in adjusting to changing conditions are important factors.

During the race, contestants need to regularly find out an optimal balance between power resources and consumption.

Writing in Wikipedia, solar-powered car enthusiasts observed:

“Efficient balancing of power resources and power consumption is the key to success during the race. At any moment in time the optimal driving speed depends on the weather (forecast) and the remaining capacity of the batteries.

“The team members in the (normal) escort cars will continuously remotely retrieve data from the solar car about its condition and use these data as input for prior developed computer programs to work out the best driving strategy.

“It is equally important to charge the batteries as much as possible in periods of daylight when the car is not racing. To capture as much solar-energy as possible, the solar panels are generally directed such that these are perpendicular to the incident sun rays. Often the whole car is tilted for this purpose.”

Sikat II – a work of Filipino ingenuity

A Philippine team first joined the event in 2007. This year’s Philippine team, dubbed “Sikat II,” will consist of 13 members.

Sikat II was designed and created by 22 engineering students and seven faculty members of the Mechanical Engineering, and Electronics and Communications Engineering Departments of De La Salle University-Manila.

Leading the project are Dr. Pag-Asa Gaspillo and Professor Jose Antonio Catalan, with the support of team heads Martin Kalaw and Isidro Marfori III.

Sikat II sports a sleek and aerodynamic body made of lightweight carbon fiber-honeycomb composite. Faster than its predecessors – Sinag and Sikat – Sikat II can run at a top speed of 110kph with its 2-kilowatt motor. It weighs less than 180kg – at least 20 kg lighter than Sikat and at least 110kg lighter than Sinag.

A work of Filipino ingenuity, Sikat II is fueled by solar energy harvested and converted into electricity by photovoltaic cells. It is equipped with Filipino-made solar cells from Sunpower Philippines, a leading manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells in the world, based in Laguna.

With its much-improved solar technology, Sikat II hopes to finish the 3,000-km race in a record-breaking feat this October. In 2007, Sinag (the first Philippine solar car) delivered a remarkable debut performance by finishing 12th among 40 other participants from around the world.

The Sikat II team will be in Darwin a week before the start of the race for pre-event preparations and activities at the Hidden Valley Raceway.

DLSU Professor Catalan told the Embassy of how the Filipinos in Darwin and Adelaide rallied support, some even going out of their way to bring food to the team when the Philippines first joined the challenge in 2007.

The Philippine Embassy again encourages Filipinos in Darwin and Adelaide to extend a helping hand to the SIKAT II Team by providing moral support and assistance throughout the race. //Source: Philippine Embassy in Canberra. Photo: Philippine Solar Challenge

A 13-member Filipino team, “Team Solar Philippines”, will participate in Australia’s World Solar Challenge, a cross-continental race for solar-powered cars, according to the Philippine Consulate General in Sydney.

The race will commence on 16 October 2011 at the Town Hall of Darwin, Northern Territory and finish on 22 October at Victoria Square, Adelaide, South Australia, a distance of about 3,000 kilometers. Awards ceremony is scheduled the following day at the Adelaide Convention Centre.

The Philippine entry to the race car number 88, “Sikat II”, was designed, engineered and built by a group of De La Salle University faculty members and students, said the consulate, adding that this is the group’s third solar car project to compete in Australia’s World Solar Challenge.

The Filipino team is expected to arrive in Darwin a week before the start of the race, and will be at the Hidden Valley Raceway for the pre-race preparations and activities, said the consulate.

This year’s World Solar Challenge event will be its 11th crossing of Australia through Stuart Highway.

The World Solar Challenge is one of the most prestigious events of its kind and attracts the world’s best technical universities and colleges around the world.

The event is conducted in a single stage from Darwin to Adelaide. Once the teams leave Darwin, they must travel as far as they can until five in the afternoon where they make camp in the desert or where ever they happen to be.

The event started in 1987 with General Motors “Sunraycer” (USA) winning the race with an average speed of 66.9 km/h.

Subsequent races were staged in 1990, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009. “Tokai Challenger” from Tokai University (Japan) won first place in the 2009 event with an average speed of 100.54 km/h.

Romy contacted me from Sydney and put me in touch with the Film Festival committee for an interview with the director and creator of one of the two Filipino movie entries – noted Indie American film maker John Sayles.

Pinoy movies at the 2011 Bigpond Film Festival? I thought, ‘Wow!’

The news awakened an overwhelming cultural pride, and spurred me into ‘spread-the-word’ high gear mode even before I got to see the screening of any of them.

I embarked on setting the Adelaide Filipino community grapevine throbbing with emails, mobile texts and getting web social networks ablaze with the news of “Lola” and “Amigo” being in the festival.

“Filipino films at the Adelaide Film Festival a must see!” blared the subject in my messages, intent on stirring excitement among all my reachable contacts. The movies did not disappoint.

In fact, the two low-budget Filipino film entries, Lola and Amigo, made an unforgettable presence and stamped a strong imprint in this year’s filmfest.

With Lola already having garnered a number of awards in various international film festivals, and Amigo hitting it on high note in its genre classification and earning raves alongside other hard-hitting John Sayles films, the two high-calibre movies certainly raised the status of Filipino films’ ranking as among the best of them.

Amigo was written and directed by cutting edge film maker veteran and Hollywood screenplay writer John Sayles.

It was fully shot in Bohol (southern Philippines) with an all- Filipino cast apart from American actors in the role of American soldiers.

Oscar winning Chris Cooper, Garrett Dillahunt of “No Country for Old Men’s” fame and Yul Vazquez are in the cast.

The two films are starkly different in genre and style.

Brillante Mendoza and Lola

Brillante Mendoza who directed Lola leads us into darker recesses of our minds as he tears deep into our psyche and force us to pit our morals against the dictates of our hearts.

Known for his proclivity for gore (highlighted in his previous film ‘Katay’ at the Cannes Film Festival 2009), his Lola played trumps with the viewer’s mind with suggestive tones that butcher refined sensitivities.

There was no subtlety of nuance in his scene at the wake for the dead grandson on the raucous jubilation and catching of catfish which suddenly arrived in plentiful quantity in the side of the murky river where the people were on vigil.

Ironically, catfish is a quagmire thriving and carrion-feeding fish that get often caught anywhere from murky creeks to polluted waters and flooded graveyards.

John Sayles, March 2008 //Photo: Wikipedia

John Sayles and Amigo

John Sayles in Amigo, on the other hand, pushes our faith to edges of no return, and lets dangle a thread of hope for an unknown tomorrow in the reality that time and change are espoused together.

Sayles presents a phase that makes up the Filipino strength in fleeting moments of wit and light-heartedness. His scenarios are encapsulated in moral dilemmas which he strung sequentially like notes of a medley song.

Sayles’ surprise discovery of the hardly mentioned Philippine-American war as part of Philippine History was the triggering factor for his movie.

“I like unusual subjects for my films, and I found it surprising that so little was known of this part of history in the Philippines,” he said in a telephone interview from his room at the Pier Hotel (Glenelg) in the morning of Saturday, February 25.

He has just arrived from Melbourne along with partner movie producer Maggie Renzi the night before.

The telephone interview with him was squeezed into his tight schedule prior to the first screening of Amigo that evening at the Palace Nova in the East End of Adelaide.

“It seemed to me that this part of history has been bypassed and ‘hushed-up’ by those who wrote it and I decided to find out why,” he added.

His independent streak as a do-it-yourself film maker makes him depart from the usual budget–bloated Hollywood movie making style.

A Spanish-speaking American of Irish-German extract, his films draw aesthetic strength from his deep interest in cultures, gut sense of people’s strengths and sensitivities, his appreciation for languages – as evidenced by his meticulous phrasing and his flair for ‘the different.’

In all his films, he meticulously researched his subjects as he dug deep into the culture of the people in which his film characters belonged.

Revisiting American military occupation

In Amigo, his American-conscience-troubling curiosity leads him to poke and view a historic phase of American imperialism and invites the viewer to do the same.

His unforgiving perceptiveness captured accurately the character-moulding impact of centuries of Spanish feudal rule in the Philippines that was largely characterized by subjugation, prejudice and racism.

Sayles delivers a very potent political statement and painted parallelisms of the tragedy of war not merely on the sacrifice of life but on filial loyalties ripped apart.

“The movie was set in the early 1900s but the scenes might just as well have been in a Nazi camp, or in the Korean war, or Vietnam, or in Afghanistan,” he said.

In the Amigo film, he undresses a people’s faith and reveals a coating of nurtured ignorance, which was not quite a fault as was a burden to change.

He conveys elegance in the quiet acceptance of the women of their lot, even as they went about with the daily grind of their lives, nonetheless empowered by their firmly rooted faith.

The nuance of the film was in keeping with the flavour which his films have been noted for – an unforgiving look into the human psyche as it is pushed into its limitations when moral fibres are ground against the primal threads of survival.

On his thoughts about the making of the film, he found the 24/7 work ethics of the Filipino actors and film crew overwhelming.

The cast were a good bunch and the making of the movie was a lovely experience.

He was openly amazed in his admiration at the enormous artistic talents that he found in the country.

But if there was anything they’d leave behind, it was the 24-hour-day work load. Twelve to fourteen hours work load a day was exhausting enough.

The Filipino-American connection

Sayles holds the production crew and the actors in high esteem.

Lee Briones-Meily, the film’s cinematographer was well experienced and magnificent in her task. Lead actor Joel Torre is a good friend. Incidentally, Torre is co-producer of the movie. Understandably, Joel cuts an endearing figure as he precariously but convincingly infused quiet dignity into his character’s (as Cabeza del Barrio) subservience to the invading troop – salvaging it from becoming a farce and defying to type-cast fate-acceptance as cowardice.

No, he has not planned of doing a sequel to the story. Based as he was in the U.S., he has a line up of other projects of writing screenplays.

He and partner Maggie Renzi were in Adelaide to promote three others of his previous films and as special guests of the Bigpond Adelaide Film Festival 2011.

The Adelaide Film Festival is the 4th international festival that Amigo has been shown. It has been shown in London, Toronto and San Sebastian (Spain) previously.

Amigo is slated to re-open in the Philippines in July this year and will start screening in the U.S. in August.

John Sayles and Maggie Renzie hope to capture a huge market from the 4 million Filipino-Americans residing in the USA through community group reunions and social events.

*** Norma Hennessy is an artist-painter, writer, and community leader based in Adelaide. She is the author of A Journey in Antipodean Land (The Filipino Heritage in Australia)

The FTC also reported that Atkinson’s accomplice, U.S. resident Jody Smith, agreed to a court order requiring him to turn over nearly all of his assets to the FTC to settle FTC charges.

The FTC reported further:

Atkinson and Smith recruited spammers from around the world, according to the FTC’s complaint filed last year. The spammers sent billions of e-mail messages directing consumers to Web sites operated by an affiliate program called “Affking,” according to the complaint. By using false header information to hide the origin of the messages, and by failing to provide an opt-out link or list a physical postal address, the defendants are alleged to have violated the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

Last December, Atkinson admitted his involvement in the spam network to New Zealand authorities and had already paid more than US$80,000 (nearly $108,000 New Zealand dollars), the FTC report added.

The anti-spam organisation Spamhaus identified Lance Atkinson as Herbalking leader.

Source: SPAM WATCHERS

This is what the Filipino-Australian community in Adelaide promise in their campaign for the upcoming unveiling of a memorial plaque. And we like their campaign. It’s not your usual type of campaign in the Philippine community in Australia.

Yes, on that day our kababayans will unveil a plaque as a tribute to the early Filipino settlers in Australia, and the guests will have a journey back in the past. But more than that, it gives new dimensions to Philippine contributions to Australian history.

Yes, the day is going to be a tribute too to the modern Filipinos or to those of Philippine descent who have made good in their respective fields in Australia. But more than that, these are the people in Australian entertainment or sports who make Filipinos proud of their origin.

So where can you learn more about the Filipino heritage?

If you live in Adelaide and you’re free from 1:30pm to 3:30pm of December 8, why not visit the South Australian Migration Museum, and be part of this event.

The museum is located at 82 Kintore Avenue, Adelaide.

For more information, you may contact Cora Juanta 8297 08 40 or Norma Hennessy 0417 865 233

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Among the participating 46 teams that made the crossing to the finish line in Adelaide on the 27th of October was the Philippines’ Sinag Team which was composed of La Salle (Taft) University students led by their professors.

The Panasonic World Solar Challenge was participated by 38 solar cars and 19 other energy efficient vehicles which set out on the road from Darwin to Adelaide on October 21.

Solar Challenge started in 1987

The event was introduced in 1987 to promote educational and technical excellence with emphasis on transport sustainability by Danish Adventurer Hans Thostrup. Thostrup drove the first World solar car along with Larry Perkins over a 4052 kilometer-distance from Sydney to Perth in 20 days. It was 10 days faster than that by the first petrol engine car.

The first World Solar Challenge was participated by 23 cars led by the GM Sunray car which completed the race at a speed of 67 kms/hr. Thostrup sold the event to the South Australian government in 1996 and is now managed by Events SA.

The event’s challenge was focused on energy efficiency and creating balance between sustainable speed, endurance, energy management and strategic planning. The other classes of participation were designed to showcase a new generation of vehicles of ultra-fuel efficiency and low emission technologies.

In this year’s Challenge, Netherland’s Nuon Solar Team ran away with the first prize for the fourth year in a row. Belgium’s Umicore came second and Australia’s only entrant in the elite class – Aurora placed third.

Warm welcome to Team Sinag

The Filipino contingent was given a rousing cheer by Philippine flag waving Darwin-Pinoys as they set out to cross the continent. The course took days to cover with stops at major Australian control stops in the outback – Katharine, Dunmarra, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, Cadney Homestead, Glendambo, Port Augusta until they get to the finish line at the Victoria Square in Adelaide.

The Team Sinag of the La Salle University Philippine team entered the race under the Challenge Class while the Salesian Polytechnic group representing a joint venture of Japan-Philippines entered under the class for ‘Adventure’. The third category opened for race participants was the ‘Greenfleet Class.’

The Sinag Team consisted of drivers Eric Tan, Sherwin To and Ivan Porcalla, Overall Student team leader-Robert Obiles, Team leader (mechanical) Mico Villena, Team leader (electrical) Kaiser Fernandez, Team leader (shell) Martin Sy-Quia; team members, Walter Chua, Vincent Yao and Prince Ang; Overall Technical Project Leader (faculty) Rene Fernandez, 2nd in command Jac Catalan, Emm Gonzales, Noriel Mallari and Isidro Marfori.

An array of corporate sponsors backed the team, namely: Ford (Philippines), Motolite, Ventus, De La Salle, Shell, San Miguel Corp., PAL, Sunpower, UFreight, Aurora, Cabrera Lavadia & Associates,
Cre-Asia, Gochermann Solar Technology, JWT, Merritt Partners, Stratworks and Tuason Racing School.

Accompanying the team was an entourage of sponsor-representatives headed by Ford-Philippines boss Henry Co and La Salle’s Brother Armin Luistro.

Finishing the race

While it was the high-tech big guns with multi-million dollar sponsorships that ran away with the records, the Pinoy team members were ecstatic that they got to join the race and come through to the finish with so little glitches. To their solar entry having 21% efficiency rate against the 30% of that of the super solar battery cells of the leading Dutch Nuon Team, Brother Armin Luistro commented that “It’s not all engine efficiency. Much of the going relied also on strategy.”

Discounting the sandstorm that greeted the race participants in Port Augusta, South Australia as the race geared up towards Adelaide under cloudy weather on Saturday – October 27, the Pinoy team’s brake system and alignment was the only major difficulty that it encountered earlier on during the race. The mechanical support crew were however quick to diagnose and resolve the technical problem in time for the team to catch up with the rest of the race participants.

Aussie Sports legend and retired swimmer Ian Thorpe who has recently become Australia’s spokespersons for environment issues graced the event at the finish line on the 27th. The team arrived in Adelaide still bursting with typical Pinoy high spirits. Perhaps overwhelmed by the excitement of the race, it may yet take a while to occur to them that in that one trip across three time zones, they had been blessed with the rare opportunity to drive through one of earth’s most enigmatic geological wonders in such technology-inspired fashion.

A civic reception hosted by Adelaide’s Lord Mayor Harbison was held at the Adelaide Town Hall on October 27 (Saturday) for the participants many of whom reached the finish line on that same day after a sandstorm encounter at Port Augusta.
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