Date:18/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/18/stories/2008111857930200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Their dream is now reality

Staff Reporter

A team of students from PESIT build a race car

Grand: Students of the PES Institute of Technology with their car in Bangalore.

Bangalore: The dream of designing, building and racing an international-standard Formula race car has become a reality for 26 mechanical engineering students of the PES Institute of Technology (PESIT).

The car, unveiled on the PESIT premises on Saturday night, is a sleek, silver, single-seater, which was born out of “Prototype PM408P”.

The prototype itself began as a concept that was developed using design and analysis software such as Solid Edge and LSDYNA and was completed after a year of hard work by Team Haya.

The young automobile enthusiasts of the team will showcase their race car in Melbourne, Australia, in the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) competition to be held from November 27 to November 30, before which it will be test run on the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor from Monday to Thursday.

They will be competing with over 140 international racing teams, who will be judged in two categories: static events and dynamic events.

The race car has been built with a miniature version of “e-differential”, a racing technology used by the German automobile manufacturer Porsche.

Additionally, the race car has a 600cc Honda CBR engine that can propel the 250-kg car to 100 kmph effortlessly and accommodates all the regulations of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).

Funding

Supradeep V., member of Team Haya said, “Our greatest challenge was the lack of adequate funding. International teams have spent much more than us on research and development, alongside the specified budget of 50,000 Australian dollars.”

He added that the other teams had the funding to invest in real-life crash tests, while Team Haya was confined to computer analysis.

“We have to depend on stainless steel while others can afford lightweight and highly efficient carbon fibre,” Mr. Supradeep said.

The race car was unveiled by H.P. Khincha, Vice-Chancellor, Visvesvaraya Technological University.

M.R. Doreswamy, MLC; D. Jawahar, CEO of PES Institutions; and K.N.B. Murthy, Principal and Director of PESIT, were present.

Dr. Khincha emphasised the need for application-based education while Prof. Jawahar spoke about the necessity of increased local competition to tap the potential of budding engineers.