Students of K.J. Somaiya College have designed a car to participate in a student-level Formula One car race in Germany.
Students of K.J. Somaiya College have designed a car to participate in a student-level Formula One car race in Germany. They had asked for help from national carrier Air India, which then provided them logistics support. The students not only went to Germany but also won prizes for their creation.
One of the team members is the son of an Air India employee. Air India on Friday showcased a prototype F1 car designed by the students of KJ Somaiya College, Vidyavihar. The team of 30 plus students had participated in the international competition of F1 car prototype making held in Germany, where they stood first in the category of making a cost effective version (a total of seven categories were there). The Mumbai team fared better as compared to the other four teams that had gone there from India. In the competition, a total of 125 teams from 100 plus countries participated; these teams were from 34 countries across the globe.
Parth Mehta, a student, said that it took them a total of 12 months to design the car. According to him, as many as 60 students from the mechanical and electronic engineering department participated in the process of car making for one year. “We split the time into two periods of three months each. We started from manufacturing and then designing and engineering cooling etc. followed,” he said. According to him, the college has been participating in the event since 2006.
According to officials of Air India, one member of this team of students, Rohan Shende, is the son of AI’s engineering department employee, Vijay Shende. Rohan informed his father that students needed logistics support, following which, Mr Shende approached the western region RED Mukesh Bhatia and CMD Ashwini Lohani. The two agreed to offer sponsorship to students, and provided all material required for designing. An Air India official informed, “The vehicle was transported in an AI flight to Germany safely, as transporting such a vehicle wasn’t an easy task, but cargo teams did a good job.”
