Red Bull racing can event: Pune enters national finals

The Indira School of Communication’s team, Silver Strider, emerged the winner with the best time at the Indian Red Bull Racing Can (IRBC) Championship in Pune region, on August 19 at Symbiosis Centre for Management Studies in Vimannagar, Pune.

The team comprised two fourth-year students of the college, Rayomand Buhariwala and Yazad Bharucha.

Silver Strider will represent Pune at the IRBC national finals in Delhi on October 1, battling out against regional winners from Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata for the title of fastest mini F1 remote-controlled car in the country.

Jubilant on winning the racing championship, Yazad said, “We will give our best at the national finals and we are positive to win and take India to the international grand prix in the UK for the first time.”

Brand manager of Red Bull India, Navin Fernandes, who was also present at the inter-college Pune IRBC Championship said, “It has been four years since Red Bull started the RBC International Championship, but this is the first time an Indian team will participate in the event. We had a very good response from enthusiastic teams from the seven cities.”

The racing fans cheered the 12 teams competing on a set course with their custom-built remote-controlled cars, testing their wits on the race tracks along with the design and technicalities of the car.

Among the 12 teams were four teams from Symbiosis Institute of Design (SID), two from MIT College of Engineering (MITCoE) and one each from Cusrow Wadia Institute of Technology, Ness Wadia College of Commerce, Trinity College of Engineering and Research, DY Patil College of Engineering, Seamedu Institute and Indira School of Communication.

The project head for the Pune Championship, Darayus Bhathena said, “The selected 12 teams from the city were guided by experts in designing technicalities of aerodynamic car bodies. At the national level and the international level also, the participating team will be mentored by an expert in the field.”

The national winner will go on to compete with 24 finalists from across the globe at the Red Bull Racing Can World Final in Milton Keynes, UK.

The catch for the mini F1 championship was that the budding engineers had to show their talent in designing their car body using Red Bull tin cans.

They had to style the racing car bodies to gain an aerodynamic edge and also demonstrate style precision in tuning the tiny engines, to make their mark. Besides crossing the finishing line in minimum time, the body designs and steady machines also earned points.