When
you see rugged looking single seat, off-road recreational four-wheel vehicles
being driven at hasty speeds on a 2 km long race track consisting of muddy
pits, steep cliffs and slopes, you wonder what they are really out to prove. A
closer look and you will realise that these vehicles are all caked in slush and
mud, their drivers barely recognisable because of all the slush slathered over
their bodies. Is this some kind of a crazy off road event organised by a bunch
of mad hatters. No, not at all!
It
was the Leg 2 of the 13th edition of the Mahindra BAJA SAEINDIA 2020
organised at the Chitkara University Grounds on the Chandigarh-Patiala National
Highway in Punjab. Those participating were young students of various
engineering colleges across the country. A total of 31 out of 77 BAJA teams
completed the endurance round braving the mud-spattered track.
The
Mahindra BAJA SAEINDIA 2020 received an overwhelming response with
representation from all zones- Western, Northern, Eastern and Southern zones in
India. Sri Guru Gobind Singhji Institute of Engineering & Technology from
Maharashtra was announced the winner of this leg of the Baja edition in India and
it took away a cash prize of Rs 2,50,000. The Government College of
Engineering, Amravati from Maharashtra was declared as the first runners-up,
and it received Rs 1,25,000.
Various
other awards were given to different teams for static events. The Pride of
Punjab (Punjab & Chandigarh) Award was grabbed by Sant Longowal Institute
of Engineering and Technology, Punjab. The Sri Guru Gobind Singhji Institute of
Engineering, Maharashtra also won the first prize in Durability.
A
total of 282 teams had registered in the 13th year of BAJA SAEINDIA series, out
of which 253 (120- mBAJA and 53 eBAJA for Pithampur and 80 for Chitkara
University) teams qualified for the finals. However, only 37 teams for BAJA
made it to the Endurance round. This year was remarkable with more than 5000
students and faculty from different parts of the country celebrating the BAJA
SAEINDIA 2020 theme ‘Breaking Conventions.’
Professor
Dileep Malkhede, Advisor, AICTE (All India Council of Technical Education) and
Professor Dr. Sagar Maji, Director DITE (Delhi Institute of Tool Engineering)
were Chief Guest and Guest of Honour respectively at the valedictory function.
Professor
Dileep Malkhede noted, “BAJA is a transformative process which revolutionised
the technical education in the country. Students got opportunity to explore
their potential through demonstration of their engineering skills. BAJA is a
mission and could become possible through efforts of passionate people. This is
a process of making people successful. It has also generated competent manpower
for automotive industry. AICTE is happy to financially sponsor Indian teams for
participating in International BAJA. In past 2 years, every team that we
sponsored has demonstrated the ability of Indian mind to conquer the world.”
Sharing
her experiences as the host institute, Dr. Mrs. Madhu Chitkara, Vice
Chancellor, Chitkara University, said, “It has been an amazing experience for
having the young Mech Masters ‘Boys and Girls teams’ on the campus from diverse
yet one India for four days. And it was entirely our privilege to be a mini
India with their vibrant presence.”
The
four-hour endurance race was flagged off by Professor Dileep Malkhede,
Professor Dr. Sagar Maji and other dignitaries present at the Endurance event.
The 2 km long race track consisting of muddy pits, cliffs and slopes of 15-20 feet
height threw tougher challenges for the students, pushing both the machines and
the students to their limits. Round after round, the story was the same, that
of endurance and durability. The machines built by the students had to endure
the extreme tough challenges as it cleared hurdles after hurdles.
The
four-day event started with basic Static Evaluation round which comprised of
design evaluation, cost evaluation and marketing presentation. In the final
round, the teams showcased their prototype of a rugged single seat, off-road
recreational four-wheel vehicle and were evaluated on various parameters,
including engineering design, CAE, cost and technology innovation.
The
objective of the competition was to simulate real-world engineering design
projects and their related challenges. Each team’s goal was to create a safe,
easily transported, easily maintained and fun to drive prototype without any
direct involvement from professional fabricators.
However,
the teams were free to design their transmissions with the only restriction
being the speed limit to 60 kmph. The Dynamic Evaluation Round tested the
vehicles for acceleration, sledge pull, manoeuvrability and suspension &
traction. The Durability Evaluation Round saw the vehicles undergo endurance
tests of four hours of BAJA. The Endurance Event assessed each vehicle’s
ability to operate continuously and at a speed over rough terrain containing
obstacles in any weather conditions.