04, Nov 2011

The cynosure of all eyes at the Mumbai International Auto Show was a stall that featured no known automobile brand or faces familiar within the industry––only a bunch of students who seemed eager to explain their work to onlookers. Confident and poised, they answered every question that was shot at them.

These were students of the KJ Somaiya College of Engineering. Three years ago, these enterprising students embarked upon a petty project for college with a dream of building their own Formula 1 car. Guess what? Today, their creation is all set to receive its third official entry into the Formula Students Design Competition in Germany.

Students of KJ Somaiya College of Engineering with their newly built F1 car––Barracuda B150.

The creators have christened their formula team Orion Racing. Rohit Gupta, a team member, exclaims, “This is our third car. The first, which we called the Barracuda B150, was actually a prototype just to test our abilities, to see whether we really had the potential to achieve this dream. The B150 was actually created using an autorickshaw engine!”
Banking on their potential and motivated by the success of their first attempt, these students worked at developing their car and created an upgraded version of the Barracuda this year. This time around, however, they have used the powerful 600 cc engine of a Honda CBR600 sports motorbike.

Gesturing towards the car, Rohit says, “This was the car which went to the competition held in August last year. Everything that you see was created completely by students. We came up with the sponsorship, the marketing, the design, the fabrication, and manufacturing. There was no professional assistance.”

So how exactly did things work out? Rohit proudly explains, “Once we were ready with our designs for the car, we sent them to industrial professionals who manufactured the parts accordingly and sent them back. So basically the design––the core element of this car––is all ours. Just us students.” Talking about their future plans, he says, “We’ll keep coming up with improved versions of the Barracuda each year––it’s already become something of a trend in our college.”

The team is now jubilant about the attention they are getting from the media recently. “We started out as immature students three years back, doing a project for college. And now we are working on a professional level on something that means a lot to us. We plan to continue doing what we do best and there’s no looking back now. Currently our work is funded by sponsors who we approach each year.”

Though the project hasn’t helped these bright youngsters financially, money apparently isn’t their main priority. “What we’ve done is surely going to help secure our future,” says Rohit. “I can put our achievements down on my resume when I apply to a university abroad and hopefully, it will get me into a reputed institution. That, in turn, will help me secure a better job in a field that has now become more than a career to me–– it’s become my passion.”