5 star performance for CoEP
Team Nemesis Racing wins the Mahindra BAJA SAE India for the third year running
TEN YEARS, NINE EDITIONS and five wins for Team Nemesis racing from College of Engineering Pune, has made them the most successful team in the Mahindra BAJA SAE India. Nemesis have been one of the 27 founding teams of the event which started way back in 2007.
The objective of the event is to make a buggy that can sustain four hours of endurance racing on a course which features obstacles of great difficulty. The course had to be redesigned for the year, as the previous one had a really high climb which was a hassle for all competitors to climb up. Even the dynamic events had their degree of toughness ramped up. The suspension test saw multiple buggies rolling and toppling down the hillock while the manoeuvrability test was even twistier than before. Not to forget the new traction test. Instead of the conventional hill-climb, the organisers switched it to a sledge-pull event where a buggy was made to pull nearly 1500 kilos or material in a trolley across a hundred metres.
The BAJA vehicles have also evolved over time. The lightest vehicle in 2007 weighed close to 350 kilos. In 2017, the lightest vehicle came from NIT Jalandhar as it weighed just 125.6kg, the lightest car ever recorded at the event. Even the average weight has dropped down to 160kg from 450kg, a stark improvement in build quality and engineering practices. The teams have also adopted newer technologies and equipment to kit their buggies making them lighter and faster, like the use of the FOX air shocks and CVT transmission to replace the old Maruti coil springs and the Alfa gearbox.
With that being said, still the biggest obstacle the teams face is making it past the safety check, especially the brake test. The rulebook clearly states that when the brakes are applied, all four wheels of the buggy should lock and come to a halt in a space of 10 metres while travelling at a speed of 40kmph. The authorities take this very seriously as this isn’t a matter to take lightly.
Coming to the main race itself, NIT Jalandhar began on pole of the pyramid grid. But by the end of the first lap, it was ALARD College of Engineering, Pune who had built up a massive
lead of over half a minute over the field. The cars were facing a massive struggle getting through the slush pit which caught out the unwary. With lack of driver knowledge in such situations as well as lack of torque generated by the 302cc Briggs and Stratton lawnmower engine, several contestant were getting stuck in the muck, necessitating their extraction via means of an ATV or a tractor.
While the cars woud get stuck in the pit, there would be a massive pile-up behind them and here’s where CoEP managed to get past Alard, with an hour still to go. The Nemesis car thereon ran flawlessly and went on to win the race and with that the whole event for the fifth time, the third time running.
The BAJA also ran an electric vehicle competition which took place on an easier track. While the objective of the eBAJA remained the same, the complications in design were a major hurdle for the college teams. Nevertheless, Team Kraftwagen from Sinhgad College of Engineering, Vadgaon, Pune won the race and the crown for the first time after its sister college SKNCOE won it on the previous occasions.L