Introduction

As I touched down at Indore, a gust of memories flew right across my mind. The memories that date back to the winter of 2009. No, not like the summer of ’69. My memories have torque wrenches and grease and swollen eyes from the welding sessions. Back then I was building a Baja buggy for our college’s first endeavour at anything outside the campus. And now here I am, to see those bright eyed tired students who are out in the blaring sun to prove that they can build or rather engineer something that can pass through a series of gruelling tests while competing for the crown.

If you haven’t heard about Baja yet, well, you have now. Baja is a province in Mexico where even inhabitation was a challenge. Because road going cars could not take the people to most places, they built buggies – the ones that could take them anywhere. And when you build them, you obviously race them. The legendary Baja1000 will certainly give you an insight as to what extremes the buggies have evolved.

The Competition

Coming back to the students, SAE India started with this annual exercise for students to build and innovate, to try and design within the constraints of specifications laid down by the rules of the competition. The Baja SAE India, since 2008, has provided students with the platform to showcase their design and engineering skills not only on paper but by building and racing their creations. The competition is spread across two/three days which include static and dynamic events. Each team is evaluated on parameters like design, technology, innovation and real life performance.

For the first round, the students have to submit their designs modelled through software. The single seater off-road vehicle designs have to be analysed for stress and safety using testing software like Ansys. The applications are then shortlisted based on merit to build a real buggy. Baja 2016 saw 395 applications of which 156 teams graduated to build one.

The students then arrive at the NATRIP facility where the actual competition begins. This year the teams had to undergo the BAT – BAT for Baja Aptitude Test. The students then had to pass the preliminary scrutiny tests for the engine, the structural safety and the driveability. The static and dynamic evaluations were spread over the next two days. Brake tests, acceleration tests manoeuvrability tests were attempted with as much enthusiasm as the costing presentations, emission presentations and the business plan to build 4000 units.

Endurance race

The star of the event is the endurance race. While the static and dynamic tests evaluate the capabilities of the teams, the endurance tests their grit. Running a course like the one we have at Baja 2016, will be tough even for professional buggy builders. The track included a hill-climb that went on to a table top and a drop of a height of two stories at a 45 degree incline. You have to see the pictures to understand how difficult it is. The track then went through a series of articulations that were so punishing that the buggies had their suspension bits snapping out.

Lying ahead on the five kilometre track were two slush pits, large stones, steep climbs and drops and a millions bumps – some natural some specially made for them. It was heartening to see the students lumber their broken buggies to the pits, fix whatever they could only to get back on to the track. The four hours of endurance saw the students fighting fiercely on the track and helping their competitors off it. The pits saw a frenzy of spanners, wrenches worked around by greasy tired hands. The kids were sweating it out to win.

The win

The most interesting development in the SAE Baja though, is the introduction of E-Baja. While the E-Baja is only in its second year of running, SAE is already planning to get the e-buggies to compete with the gasoline powered cars soon. The E-Baja buggies ran the Mahindra E20 sourced powertrain with weight and range being their biggest challenges.

The day ended with almost 70 out of the 150+ cars finishing the endurance challenge and I could see the redemption on the faces of the students, the satisfaction of building a machine that could take on all the challenges. While SAE, Mahindra, Speed (BPCL) gave away prizes and consolations to quite a few, I think every student who has put in sincere efforts is a winner here. The win is the joy of creation, the joy of building that is limited to a lucky few!

Baja 2016 winners:

Main Baja -

1. Team Nemesis, College of Engineering, Pune

2. Stallions Racing, ALARD College of Engineering, Pune

3. The Con-rods, SRM University, Chennai

Electric Baja -

1. Team Stallion, Kashibai navale College of Engineering, Pune