Baja SAEINDIA 2012 concludes with bittersweet results

The Baja India 2012, the brainchild of Mahindra & Mahindra and SAE, held at Pithampur was an eye-opener that showcased what budding Indian automotive engineers are capable of. The competition this year featured a congregation of more than eighty teams of young and imaginative engineering students producing an off-road vehicle with a Briggs & Stratton petrol engine coupled to an autorickshaw transmission. 

The chassis-suspension-brakes-drive shafts-steering etc was left to the creative imagination of students. Most vehicles were assembled from parts of cars running on Indian roads. Some vehicles saw the use of imported shock absorbers in place of struts from Maruti and Nano. The teams have to follow a set of regulations laid out by the organisers. The eighty plus teams were selected after the scrutiny of their online presentations. Then they were given the go-ahead to produce their entry vehicles. 

Held from February 17-19, it was indeed heartening to see the splendid array of creations conjured up by these youngsters. The vehicles take shape starting from visualisation on a laptop or desktop until its realisation as a vehicle which can run on its own power and is driven by a student. The power-to-weight ratio of these vehicles is critical given their tiny engines so the buggies are bare basic devoid of any extra components or trappings. It also helps to have a lightweight driver.

The starting line was a multi-coloured array of Baja buggies raring to go. The tiny engines of the buggies aren’t capable of crazy acceleration nor a dizzy top speed so there was no scramble at the first corner but instead it made for a swarm of tiny buggies scrambling to get away. A part of the track featured a small hill climb and then a straight line descent where the Bajas were going at full clip. Through the four-hour endurance run there wasn’t a single serious mishap which speaks volumes of the sturdy design of the vehicles and the abilities of their young drivers. Most vehicles had only a single refuelling stop apart from some who ran out of fuel. 

By mid point of the endurance run, 50 per cent of the vehicles had retired due to components failure or driver fatigue. However, there were 38 buggies that reached the finish line with aplomb. Credit is due to the organisers for laying out a track that was not a vehicle breaker but was challenging enough just the same. The racing buggies had room enough to drift and it was wide enough for adventurous overtaking moves as well. 

One of the most interesting sections of the track was a slush pit which was constantly refilled by a water tanker. There was also a band of volunteers who lent a hand when the buggies got mired in the slush. This pit was reminiscent of the annual Tomato fight in Europe. Preceding the endurance race was a dynamic testing of the vehicles which included an acceleration test, an obstacle course strewn with logs, a manoeuvrability and brake test and a hill climb.

The judging process however left a lot to be desired, it must be said. This is a very difficult and arduous task and there is every possibility of the judges overlooking an outstanding vehicle. We also learnt that there are professional workshops making Bajas for the entrants who eventually stand on the podium as winners.

This state of affairs could demoralise the honest participants and their institutions who have strived for many months to put their energies and resources together in creating their vehicles for the Baja competition.This is one negative factor in an otherwise excellent event and the organisers would do well to take heed and avert it from tainting this splendid opportunity for the genuinely talented Indian automotive engineers of tomorrow.

 (EDITOR'S TAKE) : FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE RIDICULOUS

I have been to three Baja SAE events in India and have been able to also take in reports and videos of events in the US. It is amazing to see students, young freshers bubbling with enthusiasm take to this brilliant means of expressing their creativity. What has been amazing to witness here in India is that the enthusiasm is even greater because our lads want to, just like their counterparts in industry, leapfrog decades of knowledge and catch up with colleagues around the globe.

Dr Pawan Goenka’s belief in spearheading this movement is exemplary and commendable. One man’s vision, simply and effectively articulated can make for such a unique annual celebration of youth and its thought process at its very best, wild and outrageous all at the same time. The good thing is that this creativity of purpose and expression is a fine outlet rather than having youth while away their time doing unsavoury things.

It is therefore rather painful to see that this year’s Baja SAE India event suffered in having over-zealous officials not knowing what they really stood for and there was also massive ambiguity in conduct of the event as also interpretation of the rules. I thought that there was pretty heavy-handedness among officials who were playing Hitler at various levels of their command without having the means or the conviction to explain their behaviour. I think this is just not on for it dumbs down the enthusiasm of the students and also puts a dampener on the academic institutions who groom their students the whole year round just to see them get an opportunity to show off their efforts.

My colleague Dilip Desai and myself played mentors to a college team that took part in this year’s Baja SAE India event and we impressed upon them the just a few things to keep in mind when doing their car. Both of us were amazed at the manner in which their CAD-CAE work was conceptualised which enabled them to breeze through the virtual Baja preliminary in Bangalore. Here more than 250 colleges had entered and from this lot a hundred were selected for the main event.

From there on we monitored the work of the students on a regular week to week basis just so that they were well aware of keeping the overall weight down, making a simple car in the interests of reliability and finishing the car in a most ergonomic manner. What was inspiring was that the students built not one but two chassis frames, the first as a test piece for getting the structure right and also to improve their hands-on tube bending and welding skills while also using the time to learn the final finishing. Their approach to weight distribution, suspension mounts and articulation plus having a single robust structure, which packaged the engine out of harm’s way, set it apart as a very good effort.

However, the onus of doing a skilled and well turned out car went right against this college because of doubt and ineptitude on the part of the scrutineers because the argument from their end was that this car was built in the US and not by the students! Coming from firms which have set the standards high in the land with their own indigenous offerings, this was ridiculous to comprehend. In fact, one of the learned gentlemen asked how much money the team had spent on the car and was told a figure a shade below Rs three lakh. 

He was infuriated because he said that the carbon-fibre panels on the car alone would be thrice that price without him even getting out to see the car up close. One of the students then peeled off the pseudo carbon-fibre sticker sheet from one of the panels and the official got even angrier at having been made to look and feel ridiculous! And because of this plus also at an innuendo that some students of this college were “purported” to be seen at a place where one garage owner was crafting chassis frames for other college teams that this college was also bracketed with them! This said fabricator was a creation of the SAE Baja committee from a couple of years ago and this insinuation was without justification because it was held to be fact and the team docked a load of points! Even fine with this but there was no official reason forthcoming to date for why they were penalised and while it never mattered in the final results – the team finished fourth on the road in the endurance event, such acts will harm the movement.

I think that a cadre of officials well versed in the art of not just rules interpretation but also having the management skills to handle young lads should be what SAE Baja (Watch : BAJA 2012 results) should strive for. Otherwise it would only lend credence of a sublime event sliding into a ridiculous gathering. Sorry for being harsh but I see this as promise we have to make to give youngsters a fair chance to show their creativity and nothing else should come in the way of this. Winning and losing come later, much later.