The team of five from the Faculty of Marine Technologies and Natural Sciences of KU – dr. Pranas Mažeika (team leader), Yevgenij Yamshchikov (team captain, first pilot), Tomas Sukauskas (second pilot), Gediminas Petkus (mechanic), and Ignas Arnašius (second mechanic, team strategist) – won three second places in three competition categories with the vehicle constructed by themselves. The pneumobile (a compressed-air powered vehicle) of the KU engineering students travelled for about six km with one balloon during the Long Distance Race, and were also second in two speed events (Arcade Race and Drag Race).
According to Yevgenij Yamshchikov, captain of the team, even though they dreamed of the position of champions, the second place also meant a good result. "Together with the team, we will still have room to improve, to achieve a better result," he said.
12 of the strongest teams from six European countries –Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, and Lithuania – participated in this year's pneumobile competition. The KU team has been participating in the International Pneumomobile Competition since 2015. Every year, a new race car is prepared for the competition; five of them have already been built at the Faculty of Marine Technologies and Natural Sciences of KU.
