The Team Shark members and the Management of DIMO and DIMO Chairman Ranjith Pandithage
(standing 4th from left)
PIC BY PRADEEP PATHIRANA

Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC (DIMO), a local agent for leading global automobile brands, expressed its willingness and commitment to make Sri Lanka a centre for automobiles technological research as the country’s talent proved that they could excel in this arena. “We can make the University of Moratuwa a research hub for automobiles and I will do my best to bring the key players in the world to support us,” DIMO Chairman Ranjith Pandithage said

Speaking at an event to felicitate Team Shark who represented Sri Lanka at the Formula Student 2016, he added that this would keep the country’s best and brightest within Sri Lanka, since currently the most skilled students are immediately acquired by other countries and multinationals. Sri Lanka’s students won three important awards at the competition held at Silverstone Circuit in the United Kingdom recently, with Induruwa Munasinghe winning Top Individual Driver, while the Team Shak won the ‘Best Newcomer in Class 1’ and ‘Dedication to Formula Student Award’.

This was the first time a Sri Lankan team took part in the prestigious event which is the most established educational motor sport competition in Europe. Team Shark won against 130 teams representing 30 countries. Pandithage was speaking at a special event which was held recently at DIMO 800 Centre to felicitate Team Shark who represented Sri Lanka. His remarks come at a time when scant attention and investments have been allocated on technological research in Sri Lanka by successive governments. Team Shark’s D-Mora P 1 race car was designed and built from scratch and took almost two years to complete. D I M O , w h i c h h a s i n t e r e s t s in au tomo b i l e eng i n e e r ing and manufacturing, sponsored the project and Team Shark, which was also given expert advice, guidance and had complete access to DIMO’s facilities in Colombo, Siyambalape and Weliweriya.

The students underwent rigorous testing procedures in Tilt, Brake, and Noise tests. After a successful participation in static events including design, cost and sustainability, Team Shark participated in dynamic events that included skid pad, acceleration, sprint, endurance and efficiency. At the competition, Team Shark was given the 36th place in design amongst 130 other teams. The specialists at Silverstone commended the body and aerodynamics and the advanced paddle shifting system used by the Sri Lankan students.