MANILA -- The country’s top engineering schools are set to represent the country in the first Shell Eco-Marathon Asia from July 8 to 10 at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Mapua Institute of Technology, University of Santo Tomas, and Don Bosco Technical College will compete in a marathon that banks on the limits

of fuel-efficiency, mileage, and less carbon footprint.

A total of 107 teams from leading Asian universities and colleges in Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Pakistan, Iran, Singapore, China, Malaysia, India and the Philippines are set to display mental mettle and pride in a 2.7-kilometer world-class race track.

Here, the participating teams are tasked to design, build and drive the most-energy efficient vehicle in a bid to pocket the $1,500-grand prize on top of special awards for design, technical innovation, marketing, communications, and safety.

As the chief backer, Pilipinas Shell gave the three teams P300,000 each as financial support. The teams also had godfathers composed of retired Shell executives.

Also, after continuous promotion over popular social networking site Facebook, UST received additional P150,000 from Pilipinas Shell for being the first team to reach the 5,000-mark.

As of this posting Monday, UST had 10,224 fans followed by Mapua with 5,023

and Don Bosco with 4,198.

A test-run next month in the 3.4-kilometer-long Batangas Racing Circuit would determine the optimised driving pattern of the cars. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)