A group of 25 students of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, brought laurels for their institute and the state by emerging runners-up at a national-level competition held at Chennai recently with a formula car they had designed.
The group Team Roadrunner’ participated in the national-level event Super Sae India Student Formula 2014, organized by Madras Motor Sports Club at Chennai. The NIT team secured second position in the competition that provides a platform to engineering students to exhibit their innovation and creativity skills in designing, modelling and fabricating formula cars.
The NIT-Rourkela team designed a four-cylinder, 600cc, 120-BHP Yamaha R6 engine generating a maximum torque of 66Nm, which was imported from the US by the students. The vehicle has a top speed of 160 kmph and can attain an acceleration of 100 Kmph in six to seven seconds. The 360 kg vehicle sports a glass fibre body and is equipped with a real-time data acquisition system and GPS system. The fuel tank, exhaust system and the intake manifold were developed by the team with in house support, bringing down the manufacturing costs drastically and making it a budget car.
The team competed with 100 shortlisted teams from different parts of the country and was awarded cash prize of Rs 20,000 along with a trophy.
NIT said the formula car designed by its team was appreciated by the judges because it creates minimum noise, has smoothness and quality brakes. The team has since qualified to participate in the Formula Student India event, to be held in January 2015, where teams from different countries would participate, said NIT spokesperson R K Sinha.
“NITR will provide all necessary support to these students for preparation for the upcoming event,” Sinha said.
The team spent about Rs. 7.5 lakhs to develop the vehicle.
Courtesy: times of india
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