What 21-year-old Sharukh Vazifdar and his engineering college friends have always dreamt about is developing a racing car, which can blaze a trail in the Formula SAE series.
Develop a car that will enter in this year’s Formula SAE races in Germany
What 21-year-old Sharukh Vazifdar and his engineering college friends have always dreamt about is developing a racing car, which can blaze a trail in the Formula SAE series. That dream has become a reality, as the KJ Somaiya students unveiled the Barracuda 600 — a high performance race car — on Friday.
“We encountered lot of problems while developing the car. At times it looked as if the project wasn’t going anywhere, but support and encouragement from our professors and technical experts helped us to overcome hurdles,” said Jay Kale, a final-year engineering student.
Talking about the project, he said, “A few of us, who are car enthusiasts, read about Formula SAE racing at Germany. We thought we could develop a car and enter the race. We imported books from America and studied various designs. Soon after that we developed our prototype. I handled the marketing and electronics aspect of the project.”
However, making the car from scratch was no smooth ride. “We made the prototype, but didn’t have the funds to develop a proper racing car. Another problem was that our professors did not have the required expertise to help us build a race car — they know a lot about regular cars though. But with the help of our college trustee Sameer Somaiya, we got a sponsorship from Honda and other vehical manufacturers. This helped us a lot,” said Vazifdar, the team manager.
The students also had help fromracing car expert Timothy Lewis lent his considerable expertise. “We had some engine and accelerator trouble, but thankfully we had help from the experts. It took us almost seven months to develop the car and at least 40 students were put on the job,” said Kale. The students have also vowed to start a new tradition where the juniors will develop a racing car every year, which will participate in international racing competitions.
Six students will be leaving for Germany, and will participate at the Formula SAE race to be held on August 8. “We will take the car for a test drive soon. It’s a high performance car that can reach speeds of 120kmph,” said Vazifdar.
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