Geared up for test

RACING ON

A group of budding car builders are all out to prove this notion wrong. Twenty boys from the Mechanical Engineering Department of Bangalore Institute of Technology (BIT) are all set to take part in the national-level competition organised by The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) called Mini Baja 2010, which will be held between January 29-31 at Pithampur in Indore.

“We have been working on this car from almost a year now. Six months were spent on the research and three months to build the car. We attended an interview in Whitefield and also a seminar about the competition in Mumbai. We can't wait to race on the track,” said Rahul, a member of the team. Calling themselves the ‘Bosch Team Stratos’, they have built an all-terrain vehicle which is suitable to be driven in any sort of a track. Be it stones, puddles, rocks or mountains, the car will have to conquer all these. This college has qualified among 180 colleges which applied, being the only one from the City and one of the five from the State. They are very proud of this fact and speak about their car as if

it were their baby. “We have spent nights together in the college building. We have also spent our study time during our exams to build the car. I will be driving the car along with my co-driver, Mokshith. We are keeping our fingers crossed,” gushed Vishwas, a fourth year student, who will be driving this beauty.

They all said that they hardly knew anything about what goes into building a car until they started and now they can all recite the process even in their sleep! Entering such a prestigious competition has boosted the expectations that their professors have on them. “Dr Jagadish, HOD of M.Tech, is our inspiration. Without him, this wouldn’t be possible. He has spent so much time with us, which nobody else would have done,” said Rahul.

At the competition, the car will be tested based on three criteria, namely, static evaluation, dynamic evaluation and endurance of the vehicle. The track is an off-roadie, meant for all-terrain travel.The winning team will get a cash prize and their car will be displayed in auto shows across the country. The team will also get an opportunity to take part in Baja USA.