The Formula category racing car, designed and built by students of the Amrita University, has won multiple awards, including the all-India award for ‘Best Appearance’ at SUPRA 2016, a national engineering contest organised by SAE India, recently.

The car also received third place overall and bagged the second prize for design and cost estimation categories for the car.

Thirty-six teams from top universities all over India participated in the annual competition, which presents students from engineering institutes with the challenging task of designing, simulating, and modelling a Formula-category racing car. Each team designs and fabricates the vehicle based on strict guidelines. The car also has to perform in a dynamic event in a live race track.

The Amrita University team, consisting of 24 students, designed and developed the prototype car, called the Student Formula Vehicle (SFV), and showcased its racing capabilities at the Buddh International Circuit near Delhi, in the first week of July.

“The whole idea of the project was not about racing, but the engineering that goes into making the car. We split our team to focus on different aspects such as steering, suspension, design, power train, and brakes and wheels. In six months, we developed a 500 cc, five-gear petrol engine capable of a top speed of 105 km per hour,” the student captain of Amrita University Racing Team, Kushal Bhatija, said, in a university press release.

The car was subjected to rigorous static tests by the judges for tilting, noise, and brakes. This was followed by dynamic testing including acceleration, skidding, endurance and manoeuvring the car in a zig-zag fashion.

“The car was then driven on the circuit. Arun and Neeraj drove a total of five laps, each lap measuring 4.8 km,” he said.