09 April,2011 07:27 AM IST | | Kranti Vibhute
Engineering students are ready with their vehicle for the Formula Student competition in Germany, but can't find space in the city for a test run
Engineering students from KJ Somaiya College of Engineering, at Vidyavihar, have launched their latest car, the ORI2011 Aeton. This car was designed as an official entry into the prestigious Formula Student Germany Competition, to be held at Hockenheim in August later this year.
The engineering students from K J Somaiya College of Engineering have designed an open-wheeled formula style racing car
KJ Somaiya is one of the 80 colleges participating in this contest. Orion Racing India (ORI), a team of enthusiastic engineering students from the college, is passionate in its mission to design an entry for the Formula Student Germany competition, organised annually by the Society of Automotive Engineers.
This year, they have designed an open-wheeled formula style racing car. The total expenditure on the project this year was a whopping Rs 17 lakh.
Need space
This is not the team's first foray into the racing arena. Every year since 2007, a group of about 25 students from Somaiya have been going to Germany to display their brainchild. This year too their entry is ready, but the travesty lies in the fact that they have no space to test the car.
The students, undeterred by this setback, have decided to test it in the parking lots of any of the city's large malls. If denied permission by the mall authorities, they will take their creation all the way to Kolhapur, or even Coimbatore.
Against all odds
The students faced resistance while testing last year's entry in a residential area. Angry residents protested, disturbed by the great din caused by the car.
Rehan Netarwala, an engineering student at the college, said, "Like every year, we are ready with a car. Unfortunately there is no space in Mumbai to test-drive a racing car. There are hardly any stretches of open space, and the streets are congested, to say the least.
We are thinking of requesting the mall authorities to allow us to take a test drive on their parking lots. If we are not granted permission, we will have to take our car to Kolhapur or Coimbatore."
Aiming high
He further added, "We won an award in the costing section last year. Costing basically evaluates how well you account for every detail that goes into the manufacture of the car and how well everything was documented and put together.
u00a0
This year we are aiming to make it to the list of top 30 entries, of the total 80. Needless to say, a project of this magnitude requires a significant amount of funding. To accumulate this amount, students approach a multitude of companies for sponsorship every year.
This year, the ASK Group, a diversified financial services group, has come forward and made a big contribution towards the project, without which it could not have been executed. Having a strong financial backing, the second, third and fourth year students have come together to create this car."
Speeding it up
The students completed their project at lightning speed, taking only 45 days. "We spent sleepless nights, some of us even foregoing the nail-biting World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan."
Tejas Randive, fourth year mechanical engineering student of Somaiya, said, "I am involved with the design and fabrication of the cooling system.
This means that I must ensure that the engine is maintained at a specific temperature. I submitted my settings to two companies, who considerably delayed our progress. I kept pestering them, not allowing them to watch the matches, so we could meet the deadline."
The students employed an array of skills to make their dream a reality designing, engineering, entrepreneurship, teamwork, leadership, problem solving and networking. Their skill and tenacity was tested every step of the way. Not only did they build a car, they also built relationships of reliance and trust.
Tuning it up
Tejas Chothani, technical coordinator at Somaiya, said, "This year we have increased our use of carbon fibre by 20%. Carbon fibre is an expensive composite that reduces the weight of the car and is frequently used for racecar designing. This means we have a lighter, faster car."
He further added, "There are eight sections in the competition, each evaluatingu00a0 performance, design, presentation, acceleration, and mileage of the car. In one such event, our vehicle will be timed as it completes twenty two rounds on the track. The fastest cars will win the event."
The car was initially designed on advanced design software, followed by tweaks on CAD.
After rigorous experimentation and checking, the students brought together the different parts of the car, keeping an eye on size. Although the design resembles last year's entry, the young designers have made many improvements on existing drafts.
Moment of truth
After a year of toil, the team finally displayed the ORI 2011 Aeton at their college grounds. Special software u00a0like Solidworks, Catia, Susprog 3D and Photoworks360 have been used to design the vehicle.
What's Formula SAE?
The Formula SAE competition is organised by the Society of Automotive Engineers, and is the biggest engineering design competition in the world. A worldwide competition, its events have been held in countries like the US, the UK, Australia, Germany, Japan, Brazil and Italy. The competition comprises seven events, split into two categories: static and dynamic. The events include cost and manufacturing analysis, business plan presentation, design, acceleration, skid pad, autocross, fuel economy and endurance.
