9 winners of national editions of the Young Car Mechanic Contest from Poland, Lithuania and Latvia were competing to get the first place in the international finale, which took place in Inter Cars Training Centre in Cząstków Polski.
Participants from the Baltic States turned out to be unbeatable in the International Finale of the Young Car Mechanic Contest. The contest was preceded by national rounds held in Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. The Polish finale was held on 20th April. 10 pupils with best results in the first two stages of on-line competition took part in it. Their task, during the qualifiers, was to diagnose a malfunction on a car, select proper spare parts and tools for the repair and perform the repair in a proper way. All this was happening in virtual world, using a purpose made version of “Car Mechanic Simulator 2015 - Mercedes Benz” game. The orders which were assigned to contestants did not suggest what was to be repaired - participants had to find out themselves what was damaged and replace it.
„It was a special version of the game, prepared for Inter Cars. The version available on the market is more random – the player never knows what car will visit his garage. For the needs of the contest, we have prepared a module in which every player is given the same tasks, in order to be able to compare the results” - said Krzysztof Kostowski, President of PlayWay Company, issuer of „Car Mechanic Simulator” game. In his opinion the game can be used as a support in education process of the future mechanics. „Schools in the United States purchase licence from us and use the game in first classes of their schools, educating future mechanics. But the game can also be a hint for those, who still have no idea if the job of a mechanic is the one for them. We are showing them the real stories from garages. They need to take a decision on what tools to use for the repair. They know that if they perform the repair in a professional way, the customer is not disappointed and shall come back to the garage. The game is also a selection of makes and models, which e.g. a mechanic in a small town may never deal with” - added Krzysztof Kostowski.
In Latvia the competition for the title of Young Car Mechanic was held for the tenth time, and the last part of them was held during the Auto 2017 Expo. Here the representatives of Bosch, Delphi, SKF, ZF/TRW and Valeo were involved in preparation of the tasks. In Lithuania the contest was organized for the fourth time. 8 best contestants were competing in the finale. The representatives of automotive garages were the jury.
Best 3 contestants, found this way in each country, met on 15th May in the Training Centre of Inter Cars in Cząstków Polski, to fight for the title of the best mechanic. The organizers prepared 9 tasks for the participants, but points were awarded for only 8 of them.
At the booth of PlayWay Company, the task for the contestants was to perform a repair in the virtual world of the „Car Mechanic Simulator”.
The next task, prepared by the Inter Cars Training Department, was a bit more complicated: “The ESP warning light is on. One needs to diagnose the cause of the malfunction and repair it.” This one was a bit difficult for the participants.
During the finale of the International Young Car Mechanic Competition the contestants had to prove their knowledge solving on-line tests.
At the pit of ElringKlinger, the mechanics had to make an assessment of technical condition of an engine, before attempting to replace engine head gasket. „One had to perform all the necessary measurements, before taking the decision on the right gasket to be used, what caused the biggest problem for the contestants. One had to follow five simple steps, but there were some tricky moments, which made the task more difficult” - said Korneliusz Kąkol from ElringKlinger, which founded the trip to their factory in Stuttgart for the winners.
The task of ATE was also demanding in terms of focus and precision. It was to perform replacement of brake pads following the fitting procedure for vehicle equipped with electric parking brake. “The participants were to follow a procedure of emergency unlocking the electric parking brake caliper. Subject to assessment was the correctness of disassembly and assembly of a new set of brake pads and the ability of using suitable tools and devices” - explained Tomasz Bińkowski, commercial and technical advisor ATE.
Next competition, prepared by ZF/Sachs, required the participants to perform diagnostics of a clutch disk by means of a Sachs diagnostic kit. „One had to assess and quote the scope of disc deformation and perform necessary activities on the damaged disc to reduce its runout to an acceptable level. One should notice here that clutch disc has some runout as a new piece, but it has to be within a particular limit. Deformed disc can lead to problems e.g. with gear shifting. Admissible norm is 0.5 mm” - explained Grzegorz Fedorowicz, technical advisor from ZF Friedrichshafen AG.
And finally a task which was considered by young mechanics as one of the most difficult - diagnostics, assessment and realization of a repair of A/C system in Citroen Xara Picasso 2.0 HDI. The air conditioning does not work in a car. One had to diagnose the air-conditioning system and stipulate the cause(s) of the malfunction and if possible eliminate the malfunctions and launch the air-conditioning system. The contestants had problems with this task, as Inter Cars Training Department hid in the car three malfunctions. Most of the participants did not start the repair from checking if the system contains a refrigerant, which according to IC specialists, should be the first step.
The last pit was prepared by Moto Remo Company. „On a model of a turbocharger, the participants had to diagnose a malfunction and quote the reason of it. And what is even more important for us; list the activities which must be performed before a new element is assembled, as this is the most neglected part of the repair in most garages. Usually it is a pure replacement of the part, without finding the reason of the malfunction” - said Jacek Woźniak from Moto Remo.
The best out of the 9 finale participants was Kęstutis Mockus from Lithuania, who won the Lithuanian version of the contest. „The level of the competition was high; some of the tasks were so complicated that it was hard to decide what to start with. As for me, the most difficult task was diagnostics of the ESP system malfunction. It is surely worth taking part in such contests to gain knowledge and experience" - he said after the competition.
Consecutive places were taken by: Audars Karlis Klints and Gunars Filonenko from Latvia.
All the participants of the International Finale of the Young Car Mechanic Contest shall go to Elring factory in Stuttgart. „We will show them how our gaskets are produced - from the design phase to the production line. We want to add that this is not just a piece of metal, but advanced technology. They will also have a chance to see our company garages and learn themselves how the pupils of technical schools are trained in Germany” - explained Korneliusz Kąkol. The finale participants were also given rewards sponsored by organizers and partners of the competition. Top three pupils were given tablets with access to Inter Cars on-line training platform.
The main partner of the contest is PlayWay Company. Strategic partners are Bosch, Castrol and Schaeffler. Among supporting partners there are Denso, Osram, SKF, Mahle, ContiTech, and NTN-SNR.
source:motofaktor.pl
16.05.2017