IIT Kharagpur Stepping Into Global Racing Contest

Students of IIT Kharagpur have designed a racing car and are testing its endurance on campus for the moment. For sometime now, these students have been zipping down the roads on the institute's campus. The special initiative has full support of the institute and has also managed sponsorship from the country's automobile companies.

This project took almost a year time for the boys and girls of at-least four departments of the institute to design and manufacture the car. Apart from the engine, every other past of the car has been designed and manufactures at the laboratories of the institute.

Armed with the Formula One car, this group students will enter a global racing competition in the UK. The Silver Stone events is organized by the Society for Automotive Engineers and is considered to be the most prestigious event for amateurs in the world. It is attended by students from most top 10 technical schools of the world.

This F1 car designed by these 25 IIT Kharagpur students has been named Kart, with an engineering power of 600cc, that has been taken from a passenger car major in India. The chassis, suspension and body have been made by the students using the solid world and ANSYS software, which is a favorite among all students handling automobile technologies.

Anurag Savarnya, leader of the 25 member team said "The car is able to attain a maximum speed of 160 kmph. However, we are being able to test it at only 120 kmph since we are currently running it on the campus which does not have the right kind of track for such cars". It includes 4 faculty members who have worked alongside to bring the car to shape.

Among the tech schools that will participate at silver Stone, 50 miles from London are Carnegie Melon University- US University of Hertfrdshire- UK, University of California, Los Angeles, Monash University, Australia and Chelmers- Sweden. IIT Kharagpur has already been registered as an Indian entry for the event to be held early next year.

CS Kumar, head of the mechanical engineering department says "We are extremely happy with the car that we have been able to manufacture because of the aerodynamic finesse that we have been able to achieve. Kumar also monitors the project. Few other faculty members include Ranjan Bhattacharya, Kingshuk Bhattacharya and Amiya Mohanty. Apart from mechanical engineering, the other departments involved in the project are electrical, electronics and aerospace engineering.

He explained further as "We have been able to achieve a satisfactory level in air intake system, which can even be compared to professional F-1 cars. Kart can take in large amounts of air that improves combustion and naturally the output improves remarkably. That is what helps the vehicle gain speed. The centre of gravity has also been lowered satisfactorily which improves the stability of the car, enabling it to take those sharp turns at high speed".