Team NITK Racing to build formula style race car

Team NITK Racing from NITK, Surathkal, is designing and building a formula style race car to compete in domestic and international events organised by Society of Automative Engineers (SAE).

Speaking to DH, Karan Chhajer, head of marketing of NITK Racing, said that 40 enthusiastic students from seven disciplines of NITK are part of the team. "We are passionate about racing. We design, build and test formula racing cars to take part in the Formula Student series of competitions," he explained.

Speaking on the car, he said "A KTM Duke 390 engine has tubular space frame chassis, a custom built carbon-fibre intake and semi-automatic electronic paddle gearshift with a tip speed of 100 kmph fuel. The car is named DICV NR- XVII."

Stating that it takes a lot of time, effort and money to build the race car, he said, "It took the team close to 3500 man hours to build the previous car. Although ranked the fourth best team in the country, we wish to see ourselves at the podium in the next FS India event. The vehicle is presently in the design phase. The production is likely to commence in the coming academic semester with the necessary funding."

The NITK Racing was established in 2010. The team has built India's lightest FS car and were declared the best Asian teams in FS Hungary'12. The team has won "Design Innovation" award at the Supra SAE India 2014. The team had also participated at the Formula Student India 2016 with first rank in Real Case scenario, fifth in cost report and seventh in business plan.