Mahindra BAJA SAE 12th Edition – Report

The 12th edition of Mahindra BAJA SAE India was held at NATRiP’s NATRAX facility at Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh.

The 12th edition of Mahindra BAJA SAE India saw a total of 363 teams registering for this event. Out of the 363 teams only 251 teams qualified for the further rounds. The 251 teams were divided as 120 mBAJA (Conventional fuel vehicles), 50 eBAJA (battery operated vehicles) for the Pithampur round and the rest 81 teams for IIT Ropar round.

After reaching Indore we were guided to our hotel. A networking dinner was organised in the evening, where we were given a briefing about the event and also we got a chance to interact with the event’s organising committee members. We were given the do`s and don’t`s about the event which was going to take place the next day.

The next day, we started off early in the morning. The event venue was approximately 40 km from our hotel, and it was a good 1 hr drive. After reaching the venue we could see all the students running across the venue, all excited and pumped up. The race was flagged off by Mr Bharat Moossaddee, EVP & CFO, Auto Sector, M&M Ltd. along with Mr Umesh Shah, Sr. VP & COO (CVRBU), Gabriel India Ltd., Convener – BAJA SAE India 2019, Mr.Rakesh Sood, MD, Trim India, & Dr K.C. Vora, Sr. Advisor, BAJA SAE India and Senior Deputy Director, ARAI.

Out of the 170 teams, only a total of 107 teams (85 mBAJA and 22 eBAJA) could qualify for the endurance race round. It was a 4 hr long race with the teams which comprised of engineering college students. The four-day event started with basic Static Evaluation round which comprised of design evaluation, cost evaluation and marketing presentation. In the final round, the teams showcased their prototype of a rugged single seat, off-road recreational four-wheel vehicle and were evaluated on various parameters, including engineering design, CAE, cost and technology innovation. The objective of the competition was to simulate real-world engineering design projects and their related challenges. Each team’s goal was to create a safe, easily transported, easily maintained and fun to drive prototype without any direct involvement from professional fabricators.

The track designed this year was based on the event’s tagline ‘Adventure Reloaded’. The track was a 4.1 km long track which had obstacles like mud-pit, rock crawlers, jumps etc. The participants had to survive for all the 4 hrs and also be the fastest.

The race concluded as Institute of Technology, Nirma University from Ahmedabad won the eBAJA and Govt. College of Engineering from Pune won the mBAJA race. Various other awards to the teams for static events were presented. MIT, Pune and Shri Vishnu Engineering College of Women from Bhimavaram, AP bagged the Engineering Design award for mBAJA and eBAJA respectively. NIT Jamshedpur won the Go Green Emissions Award. In addition to the total prize amount of Rs. 32 lakhs for BAJA SAE India 2019 Pithampur, the students walked away with excitement and a sense of accomplishment for having participated in such a competitive event.