Mumbai: The people working in air filters and dampers and accelerator pedals are no ordinary mechanics and the car that they are working on is no ordinary car.
A couple of IIT Bombay students decided in June last year to enter an international competition called Formula SAE — short for Society of Automotive Engineers — to build a race car.
IIT Faculty Advisor, Professor Amarnath says, "It was great how these students got together and started working on something that they had no idea about."
The 30 students who eventually got together for the project — armed with textbooks, a supportive faculty and some helpful advice from automobile manufacturers — have come a long way, to the point that the tightening of a screw here and the testing of a pedal there is all that is left to do.
The spirited youngsters will be the only Indians participating in this prestigious international competition to be held in Detroit — the Mecca of the international automobile industry.
The 11 budding engineers who will represent IIT Bombay at the competition are ecstatic.
Formula SAE partcipant, Shyam says, "We aim to compete with the best in the world and experience some great engineering."
And finally the moment they had all been waiting for is here. The official unveiling of IIT Bombay's Formula racing car — and who better to do it than India's own F1 champion, Narain Karthikeyan?
Narain Karthikeyan says, "In the last few years, the sport has been getting more popular and this will give it more exposure."
And with Narain's best wishes, this vehicle is truly revved up to win the race.
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