Thirteenth Mahindra Baja SAE India offer industry-academia meet platform

The 13th edition of the Mahindra Baja SAE India 2020 saw a total of 76 out of 120 mBaja teams and 10 out of 53 eBaja teams participate in the endurance round. The two-hour eBaja race was held on January 25 and the four-hour endurance race for the mBaja was held on January 26. The winners were declared on the same day. On January 27th and 28th, the shortlisted students of Baja Aptitude Test (BAT) will get an opportunity to be interviewed for employment with renowned organisations in the automotive sector. The selected engineers will get on the spot offer letters from the companies.

Team E-Ziba Racers from Shri Vishnu Engineering College for Women, Andhra Pradesh was declared the ‘Best eBAJA Team’ and Team Predators from D Y Patil College of Engineering, Akurdi, Pune was declared the ‘Best mBAJA Team’. Team Acrostreak from Acropolis Institute of Technology & Research, Indore bags 2nd position in eBAJA and Team Aryans from Government College of Engineering, Aurangabad, Maharashtra stood 2nd and Team SparkX Racing from Silver Oak College of Engineering & Technology, Ahmedabad, Gujarat stood 3rd in mBaja. The endurance event was flagged off by Dr Pawan Goenka, managing director, Mahindra & Mahindra and chairman, steering committee – Baja SAE India, Dr Bala Bharadvaj, president, SAE India, Guest of Honour Gul Panag, Subhankar Sen, chief general manager, BPCL and Atul Bharat from host institute, Acropolis Institute of Technology & Research, Indore. 

A total of 282 teams had registered in the 13th year of Baja SAE India series, out of which 253 (120 mBaja and 53 eBAJA for Pithampur and 80 for Chitkara University) teams qualified for the finale. Total 86 teams (76 teams for mBaja and 10 for eBAJA) made it to the Endurance round at the Pithampur event. 

Dr Pawan Goenka, managing director, Mahindra & Mahindra said, “Competitions such as Baja SAE India help students acquire much-needed real-world experience, which is critical to their success as future engineers. Baja SAE India has proved to be a great platform for young budding engineers to explore and exhibit their engineering, technological skills, acquired during the academic tenure which is critical to their success in the long term. I am sure that the experience gained thru this forum will be extremely valuable for all students in their future endeavours”.

S Balraj, convener, Baja SAE India 2020, said, “Baja SAE India is a unique event as it not only provides aspiring engineers with a platform to highlight their design and engineering potential, but also gives the students an extended opportunity to jump out of the formal learning system and implement the fundamentals and concepts practically. I congratulate all the winners who performed to the best of their abilities."

Various other awards to the teams for static events were presented. Team Nemesis Racing from Government College of Engineering, Pune and Team Gyrfalcons from Modern Education Society's College of Engineering, Pune bagged the Engineering Design Award for mBAJA and eBAJA respectively. Team Ziba Racers from Shri Vishnu Engineering College for Women (Autonomous) won the Go Green- Emissions Award. The total prize amount for Baja SAE India 2020 Pithampur was Rs 22.8 lakh.

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 own transmissions with the only restriction being the speed limit to 60 kph. The ‘Dynamic Evaluation Round’ tested the vehicles for acceleration, manoeuvrability, rock crawl and ‘Suspension and Traction’. ‘Durability Evaluation Round’ saw the vehicles undergo endurance tests of two hours for eBAJA and four hours for mBAJA. The ‘Endurance Event’ assessed each vehicle’s ability to operate continuously and at a speed over rough terrain containing various obstacles.