The seventh edition of the Baja SAE India 2014, held at the NATRiP facility in Indore yesterday, saw over 325 teams comprising 6,500 engineering students register to participate and about 106 teams compete for the title in the endurance round.

While Sri Govindram Siksaria Institute of Technology and Science, Indore was adjudged the overall winner, College of Engineering, Pune and Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore were declared first runners-up and second runners-up respectively. This year’s theme for the event, which had total prize money of Rs 31.50 lakh, was ‘Raise the Bar’

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Pawan Goenka, executive director and president, Automotive & Farm Equipment Sectors, Mahindra & Mahindra, said, “It’s heartening to see thousands of students coming together once again to celebrate the spirit of BAJA. This forum gives young engineering talent an opportunity to showcase their skills and acquire a real-life experience posed with challenges which is critical to their success in the long term.”

The three-day event began with the basic static evaluation round which comprised of design evaluation, cost evaluation and marketing presentations. 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, 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 own transmissions with the only restriction being the speed limit to 60kph. The dynamic evaluation round tested the vehicles for acceleration, speed, hill climb and manoeuvrability and the durability evaluation round saw the vehicles undergo endurance tests. The endurance event assessed each vehicle’s ability to operate continuously and at  speed over rough terrain containing obstacles in any weather conditions.

Shrikant Marathe, director, ARAI, said, "To meet the technology road map of India's vision, we need lots of good engineers. This human resource can double up by encouraging women to enter into engineering. Baja is one such initiative, where we orient them towards STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics)".

Sanjay Nibandhe, convener for Baja 2014 and DGM (Proto Development, R&D), Nashik at Mahindra & Mahindra, said: “Baja SAE India is a platform that offers students a chance to showcase their talent and skills in presence of auto experts in addition to presenting them with an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the industry of which they aspire to be a part. Amongst the thrill and adventure, we assess the abilities of participants by testing them on parameters such as leadership skills and theoretic and practical knowledge.”

The other winners were: Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering from Pune (Engineering Design award); Institute of Technology, Nirma University, Ahmedabad and Sinhgad College of Engineering, Pune (Go Green - Emissions Award); Institute of Technology, Nirma University, Ahmedabad and Medi-Caps Institute of Technology and Management from Indore (Dronacharya award); and Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology from New Delhi (Chairman’s award). While the College of Engineering, Pune bagged most of the awards in the dynamic events category, the endurance award which assessed vehicles’ ability to operate at a speed over rough terrain was won by Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology, Sangrur, Punjab, followed by Sri Govindram Siksaria Institute of Technology and Science, Indore.