2013 Baja SAE India Endurance Run

A fairly challenging dirt track. Over 90 single-seater buggies. And a whole lot of dust!     

With the Baja SAE India endurance challenge into its sixth year, the Mahindra Group organized yet another grueling 4-hour endurance race, which brought together over 120 teams from engineering colleges across the nation to the city of Indore. As per the trend every year, the event offered up a unique competition for young undergraduate engineering students wherein the participants are to design, develop and build single-seater off-roaders completely from ground up.

Spread over a course of three days, the Baja SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) allows teams to showcase their prototype of a rugged single seater, four-wheel off-road vehicle. The vehicles are then evaluated on various parameters, including engineering design, cost and technology innovation. The primary objective of the competition is to replicate real world engineering design projects and the challenges that come with it. The purpose, therefore, is to build a safe, rugged, easily maintained and fun to drive prototype without any sort of expertise from professional fabricators. 

While all the teams were bestowed with 305cc, Briggs and Stratton-make engines, they were free to design their own transmissions with the only restriction being the speed limit to 60kmph. In contrast to previous years, the 2013 edition of Baja SAE saw participation from not one, but two all girls’ team from Pune and New Delhi each! Also, the organizers adopted a zero tolerance theme which referred to 100% adherence to guidelines and safety rules. We were left pleasantly surprised as the move eventually helped in bettering the performance of the participants.

The three day event started with basic static evaluation round. All the cars went under strict technical inspection at ground zero, which resulted in 91 teams making the cut to compete in the final few rounds including the 4-hour endurance race. The rest of the selected teams were rejected under Zero Tolerance policy. 

Moving further up the ladder, the dynamic evaluation round tested the vehicles for acceleration, speed, hill climb and maneuverability. The endurance test assessed each vehicle’s ability to soldier on over rough terrain in any given weather conditions.

The 3.8-km long dirt track, with several banked corners, small hills, steep climbs and deep pits, proved to be a handful for many participants. With the sighting lap completed, the buggies lined up on the main straight in the grid order. While all of the teams made the start just fine, the first few minutes were frantic as usual, as the drivers tried to get a hang of each other on the narrow track. With the front runners immediately fighting for track position, the 4-hour endurance run was on!       

The young drivers battled it out with all their might and after a couple of laps into the run, the buggy from the College of Engineering, Pune took over the lead from the rest of the grid. Within minutes, most of the participants settled down a bit for the long endurance run that lay ahead. However, that didn’t mean the teams had it easy! Several teams, in fact, had to eventually deal with foreseeable crisis including breakdowns, worn-out drivers and flying machinery. By the last hour, the endurance run had really settled down in the bright light of the mid-day sun as only 40 out of the 91 teams were to be seen plying on the track. The final few minutes were tense, with several teams soldiering on cautiously so as to not get in the way of the front runners but also making sure they kept their track position.

The crowd erupted into cheers as the buggies prepared to cross the chequered flag. The enthusiasm between the drivers only grew as every single buggy crossing the start-finish straight was greeted with a loud cheer and applause from the mass of onlookers, signifying the success of young, hardworking engineering students. 

The top finishers had their cars inspected and soon afterwards, the winners were announced. While College of Engineering, Pune grabbed the top honours, Krishna Institute of Engineering and Technology, Ghaziabad & PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh put up a tough battle to take home the title of first runners-up and second runners-up respectively.       

College of Engineering, Pune walked away with most of the category awards like the Raftaar, Maximum Acceleration Award and Best Built Quality awards. The Endurance award which assessed vehicles ability to operate at a speed over rough terrain was also bagged by College of Engineering, Pune. Meanwhile, University College of Engineering, Osmania University from Hyderabad bagged the Technology Innovation award whereas Institute of Technology, Nirma University, Ahmedabad and Amity School of Engineering & Technology, New Delhi won the Go Green Award. The students walked away not just with the excitement and a sense of accomplishment for having competed in such a testing event, but also over Rs 30 lakh worth of prize money.

The detailed list of the all the winners in their respective category is given below.

 2013 Baja SAE India – Overall Winners

– Team Nemesis – College of ENGG, Pune

– Immortals – Krishna Inst of Engineering and Tech

– RPM – PEC University of Tech    

2013 Baja SAE India – Dynamic Event Awards

– Speed (acceleration) award

Team Nemesis – College of ENGG, Pune

– Maneuverability

Immortals – Krishna Inst of Engineering and Tech

– Hill Climb

Team Kshatriya – Vellore INST of TECH

– Raftar Award

Team Nemesis – College of ENGG, Pune

2013 Baja SAE India- Endurance Event Awards

– Durability

Team Nemesis – College of ENGG, Pune

2013 Baja SAE India – Other Awards

– Dronacharya Award

Immortals – Krishna Inst of Engineering and Tech

– Pride Of Indore Award

GSRacers – Shri G.S. INST of Science and TECH

– Chairman's Award

IGIT Yantriki – Indira Gandhi Inst of Tech