NITK students all set to vroom at Formula Student China

Year after year the Formula race car built by the students team of National Institute of Technology - Karnataka is becoming lighter and better.

After four years of taking part in the first international Student Formula racing event, a fresh batch of students have now come up with a finer model to contest in the Formula Student China - 2014, to be held at Xianyang from October 14. 

The Formula race car developed by NIT-K students is the only car from India to participate in the race in China. A team of 25 students have designed and developed the car at a cost of Rs 20 lakh. The car has been already shipped to China, whereas the students team will fly on October 10 to participate in the much awaited contest. The team representing NIT-K Racing which has the credit of being the lightest Indian FS car, with its predecessors winning the best Asian team at FS Hungary 2012 and renowned as the fastest growing Indian team, is all excited about their journey. 

This car made of steel, uses Honda CBR 600cc superbike engine and can produce up to 60 horse power. 

What makes the car different from previous years is that, carbon fibre reinforced plastic has been used instead of aluminium to optimize the tire intake system which has also made the car lighter. Speaking to Deccan Herald, team captain Vivek Muralidharan, a final year mechanical engineering student, said that team has gone a step ahead this year by performing wind tunnel testing of the car at Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. It is the only Student Formula car in India to undergo wind tunnel testing and the team captain expressed confidence of performing better this season. 

“We worked for about two months to design the car and another two months to manufacture it. In preparation, the team took part in a first domestic event, where our strong technical basis helped us bag the innovation award with a cash prize of Rs 30,000, for our cooling system that is based on a published research paper. The car can travel up to a maximum speed of 110 kilometre per hour in accordance with the safety regulations,” he said.

Though the team has received financial help from the sponsorers, it has been looking forward for additional funds as the logistic cost is yet to be met.