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- Team Predators from DY Patil College of Engineering, Akurdi, Pune wins the mBAJA title

- Team E-Ziba Racers from Shri Vishnu Engineering College for Women, Andhra Pradesh wins the eBAJA title

The 13th edition of the Mahindra BAJA SAE India came to an end in Pithampur, Indore. A total of 76 out of 120 mBAJA teams and 10 out of 53 eBAJA teams participated in the endurance round. The second part of the event is scheduled at Chitkara University near Chandigarh from 6 March to 9 March.

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. A total of 86 teams (76 teams for mBAJA and 10 for eBAJA) made it to the endurance round. The theme for this year’s event was ‘Breaking Conventions’.

The four- day event started with a basic static evaluation round that comprised of design evaluation, cost evaluation and marketing presentation. In the final round, the teams showcased their prototype of a single seat, off-road recreational four-wheel vehicle and were evaluated on parameters such as 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 transportable, easily maintained and fun- to-drive prototype without any direct involvement from professional fabricators.

The teams were, however, free to design their own transmissions with the only restriction being the speed limit of 60 kmph. The dynamic evaluation round tested the vehicles for acceleration, manoeuvrability, rock crawl as well as suspension and traction. The 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.

Team E-Ziba Racers from Shri Vishnu Engineering College for Women, Andhra Pradesh was declared the ‘Best eBAJA Team’ and D.Y. Patil College of Engineering, Akurdi, Pune was declared the ‘Best mBAJA Team’. On 27 and 28 January, the shortlisted students of BAJA Aptitude Test (BAT) will get an opportunity to be interviewed for employment with renowned organizations in the automotive sector. The selected engineers will get on-the-spot offer letters from the companies.

Speaking on the occasion, Pawan Goenka, Managing Director, 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 long term. I am sure that the experience gained thru this forum will be extremely valuable for all students in their future endeavours”.