Mean Machines

They made a sports car and took it to a competition in UK. Though this group of IIT students didn’t win but they didn’t lose their heart either

Thought engineering colleges are all about nerdy people with their shady stereotypical notions of the world around them? Well, not really. For they aren’t all that nerdy after all. They believe in mixing work with pleasure. That’s what a group of IIT students recently did when they manufactured a car all by themselves and took it to UK to participate in a competition. Good use of their education, isn’t it?Having learnt things, these young men wanted to put their knowledge to practical use, and they did in the form of a sports car for the Formula Student Competition in UK. The team which started with two people ended up finally with 18 members, working almost 24X7 to materialise the idea. To make the car, the manufacturing budget was approximately Rs 10 lakh which was inclusive of the cost of material, fabrication, tools and some miscellaneous costs. But then why a car, that too a formula car? "We all needed to find out how much of theory is useful in real life. It was such a quest that led to the exploration of such an event. It suited our needs for we learnt along with having fun and experiencing speed," say all of them in unison. The project that started in August 2007, officially ended in July 2008 with the completion of Formula Student competition. Working late till night up to 2 am in the lab, then attending classes in the morning, roaming on the crowded streets of Old Delhi markets with pipes and blocks and looking for things for their car, speaks volumes about the frenzy that had gripped these students. Having cleared the inspection test, they failed in the brake test when the car’s engine broke down. But this enthusiastic bunch isn’t giving up. In fact the young guys are already gearing up for the next time. "The race never ends until we win, then we fight to stay there" is their guiding philosophy. Sharing his experience at the event, Aseem Singla, a senior member of the team says, "Students from all over the world had come with their creations like us. All had used different technologies. From manual to automatic gear shifting; from single cylinder to four cylinder engine, with outer bodies made such that looked so professional. All this was done by a group of students. There was a lot to see and learn." The list of names behind the mean machine is pretty long. It included Ajay Bhatia, Aseem Singla, Ayush Abhijeet, Bharat Varshney, Diba Kazi, Jitender Goel, Jwalit Patel, Hari Krishnan, Kunwer Vivek Singh, Lavanya Kumar Jain, Mayank Gupta, Nachiket Gole, Prabal Goyal, Raghav Mundra, Rohit Jain, Tarun Agarwal, Sharvil Talati and Tuhin Rahariya.