"Work has begun on our third prototype RZ007 set for FSG in Germany and FSAE in Australia in August and December 2008 respectively" Nikhil Manjunath, the team's captain told PTI.

Designs underway

Designs are also underway on the Ashwa HEV (Hybrid Electric Vehicle)- the first such in Asia- a new hybrid racing vehicle which is being planned for a competition in the US in May 2009, he said. The team has also tied up with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), for a project called Vehicle Design Summit where it (team) will be working with 40 other universities from across the globe and contribute to the system of ergonomics and controls in car prototype production, with India as the target market.

Ashwa Racing Team of RVCE, which started off as a passion for few enthusiastic students in 2003 has come a long way, having made three international appearances, twice in Australia and once in Germany.

In Dec 2005, the RZO5 team competed at Melbourne. Australia where it won the "Best Endeavour Award" and "Best Cost Award". Again in 2006, the team repeated the feat by winning the "Most Economical Car" and "Best Asian Entry" titles with the RZ06. FSG is one in which students build a single seat formula race car with which they can compete against teams from all over the world.

The second Ashwa Racing team competed in FSG Germany, between August 8-12, 2007 at Hockenheim Ring Formula 1 Track and stood 33rd on the overall standing out of 60 teams that participated. According to Bharat Swaminathan, sponsorship, marketing team, Ashwa Racing, the estimated cost of creating the 3rd prototype is Rs 6.5 lakh while the mass production cost would Rs five lakh. Ashwa Racing Team is the only team in Asia to be using a reprogrammable ECU to carry out vehicle tuning and data acquisition.

In the coming year, the team plans to incorporate telemetry that will allow real-time data to be transmitted immediately to the pit-crew.

"We work closely with HAL for our composite material research and applications and are the only Indian team to have incorporated structural composites in our car. Our vehicle power requirements are met by Amaron and BPCL. Speed are official fuel sponsors and Lufthansa and Kingfisher Airlines among our main sponsors", Khanna said.