Maruti Suzuki SUPRA SAEINDIA 2018
The stringent rounds of vehicle testing resulted in only 27 teams making it to the final round out of the 112 teams present
A spectacular race track, a dexterous set of participants, a wave of excitement covering the atmosphere and a plethora of formula-style race cars reflecting all the dedication and hard work gone into them. Well, that’s how you best describe the Maruti Suzuki SUPRA SAEINDIA event in one line. After an entire grueling week of vehicle testing, the 7th edition of the national inter-college competition came to a close on the 16th of June.
This season saw participation from 112 teams from all across the country, of which only 27 could make it to the final endurance run. Team Kratos Racing from Pimpri Chinchwad College Of Engineering, Pune emerged as the winner with the highest overall score. Maruti Suzuki has been the title sponsor for SUPRA SAEINDIA since 2011 when the event first took place in India.
Apart from innovation, the focus for this year’s event has been on safety and capability of the race cars. A panel of 100 judges was appointed to carefully examine the vehicles on various parameters in the form of static and dynamic testing. Static tests involved technical scrutiny, tilt test, noise test and brake test while dynamic tests consisted of acceleration test, skid-pad test, autocross run and endurance run.
The formula-style race cars are completely built by the college students based on the parameters defined in the rule book released by SUPRA SAEIndia. The engine displacement limit has been capped at 610cc which makes the KTM 373cc engine and the Royal Enfield UCE motor the prime choices of the participating teams. Each team performs minor modifications in the vehicles based on the inputs given by expert teams at the event. While most cars at the event used normal road tyres, some of the race cars were flaunting racing slicks.
Maruti Suzuki SUPRA SAEINDIA is the largest event of its kind in India
The endurance run, as the name suggests, is designed to test the durability of the race cars. The 27 shortlisted teams had to complete 10 laps of a part of the track at Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida and the best lap timing was considered for those cars which successfully completed the run. The endurance run was divided into two rounds, with 14 teams competing in the first and the remaining 13 teams fighting it out in the second round.
The endurance run was followed by a valedictory ceremony where the winning teams in various rounds were announced. Team Kratos Racing was the overall winner in the event and received a cash price of Rs. 2 lakhs along with other awards for best performance in several static and dynamic tests.