INNOVATIONS

MESRA STUDENTS DESIGN RACE CAR IN 7 DAYS

By Singh Anish Kumar, Tushaar & Anurag Shekhar

Nine students from Birla Institute of Technology (BIT) Mesra design a race car in just 7 days in a Ranchi workshop Topgear.
And what they promise is that even in Topgear at high speeds this car will not topple..something to do with technological innovations for which they have applied for a patent.
FS07, the car as it is called, is an improvisation made from a Maruti 800 and an engine from a 350 cc Royal Enfield and in July the car will participate at the Universities Formula Race at Silvestone, UK, where a 130 universities from around the world are expected to participate.
Earlier at an Auto expo 2006 the car under the name Spowdy introduced the `stability’ technology.
Said one student, “ For example when a car turns only its wheels turns but BIT Mesra students applied their minds on how motorcycles tilt while they turn and they applied the motorbike techonology to the car – in short this car actually tilts while it turns – taking care of the centrifugal forces.”
The car travels at a maximum speed of 80 kmph and they have asked permissions from the Airport Authority of India for allowing them the use of the Ranchi runway to test drive their vehicle, considering Jharkhands roads are yet not upto the mark.
The nine students behind this race car are Nirbhay Chaddha, Ankur Aggarwal, Vishal Gupta, Shweta, Pratik Dhaboo, Gaurav Jhingran, Ashish Mehta, Prikshit Gupta and Hitesh Manchanda and they have a website at www.awishcar.co.in
Currently, the car uses sheet metal which is to be replaced by FRP bodywork to make it aerodynamic.
The project has been achieved under the guidance of faculty members Dr. Arvind Kumar, DR.B.M. Karan and Dr. P.K. Barhai and is a continuing exercise with students making one innovation to this concept Formula car every year…so 90 years later the car will be called FS97!
Already the car has bagged a few awards like the most innovative car of the year contest KHOJ (Hardware category) organized by SIDBI at BIT, Mesra, and a second prize for fuel conservation at IIT Kharagpur.