SAEINDIA, a professional Society of Automotive Engineers and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, today announced the commencement of the redesigned Virtual Round of BAJA SAEINDIA, which will be held on July 12 & 13, 2019 at Chitkara University, Chandigarh. The Virtual Round also flag offs the 13thedition of the much-awaited BAJA series with Mahindra as the title sponsor. Dr K C Vora, Sr Deputy Director of ARAI is the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, with S Balraj as Convener for Pithampur and Shoaib Sadiq as Convener for Chandigarh.The BAJA SAEINDIA series is a well-known competition among the engineering students, who participate in the event with great zeal and passion.With around 280 teams from various engineering colleges of India, 25 students from each team totalling over six Thousand students, the battlefield is all set for these students to come up with their ideas.The teams registered for this season are spread across 24 different states, including 4 teams from Punjab. This year, a total of 225 teams have registered for the conventional format of the event i.e. mBaja and 55 teams have opted for the electric version of BAJA SAEINDIA i.e. eBaja.During the course of Virtual Baja, the registered teams will be scrutinized for their knowledge, creativity, concepts, virtual design and capability to participate successfully in the main event. The teams at the Virtual BAJA will make a presentation on their design, followed by an Online test, which will carry equal weightage in their final selection.The teams would be judged on various parameters in the virtual BAJA like knowledge of the rulebook, the concept of the buggy, the project plan, the design methodology, CAE Analysis, the Design Failure Mode & Effect Analysis (DFMEA) and Design Validation Plan (DVP), college workshop facilities and team \formation. The Online Test will check every participant’s knowledge on Rulebook and general Mechanical and Automotive Engineering. Based on the performance in Virtual BAJA, the teams will be selected for participation in the main event, scheduled to be held in NATRAX facility of NATRIP, Pithampur near Indore and Chitkara University at Chandigarh.Eminent personalities from the automotive and engineering industry will serve in the panel for the latest edition of BAJASAENDIA.
Each team is tasked to create a vehicle known as ‘Buggy’, an All-Terrain Vehicle, which has to comply with multiple parameters & technical inspection, before it is allowed to compete in the dynamic events and final endurance race. Students are expected to design Buggy having the best suspension, steering & brakes with a strong roll cage, considering the New Product Development (NPD) Cycle with all quality and safety aspects. Many teams target weight of the buggy to be less than 125 kg.A remarkable feature unique to BAJA SAEINDIA is the adoption of a new theme every year. This year the theme for BAJA 2020 is ‘Breaking Conventions’.Speaking at the conference, Col.Rakesh Sharma, Associate Director, University Affairs, Chitkara University said, “As the host institute of Virtual BAJA SAEINDIA, from the last 3 years, we feel proud in supporting this program. The quality competitions from SAEINDIA like BAJA are improving the engineering skills of young graduates and providing them with a platform to learn in a real environment with a project-based approach.The increasing number of teams in eBAJA proves itself that we are moving in the right direction towards sustainable mobility for the future”.Subodh Morye – Head Marketing & PR BAJA SAEINDIA mentioned, “BAJA SAEINDIA has been improving year on year since its inception in 2007 by reloading the enthusiasm high in teams and has finally reached to a stage to break the conventions. Every year, we see an active participation from the Organizing and Alumni Committee to shape this event in an extraordinary competition. The support from the Steering Committee headed by Dr Pawan Goenka, MD of M&M, has been pivotal and is driving the event towards a promising future through their wisdom and vision. While thanking our sponsors, we as BAJA SAEINDIA will continue supporting the teams and encouraging them to adopt innovative ways to cope up with the challenges which awaits them in the future of Automotive Industry”.
Dr Bala Bharadwaj, MD of Boeing India and President of SAEINDIA, send his best wishes to the Baja Organizing Committee for the successful conduction of Virtual Baja.In India, the BAJA SAEINDIA (Society of Automotive Engineers) began its journey in the year 2007 and was launched under the leadership of Dr. Pawan Goenka (during his tenure as SAEINDIA President) and the convenorship of Dr. K.C. Vora. As SAEINDIA ventured on to the unchartered territory of holding a mega-event of this scale, NATRiP came forward to lend a helping hand through an earmarked zone at its proving grounds: NATRAX, situated at Pithampur, Indore. Similarly, from this year, Chitkara University came forward to organize the 2nd leg of BAJA SAEINDIA 2020 at its vast campus.The finale will be held at the NATRAX facility of NATRIPat Pithampur near Indore, from 23rdto 26th January 2020, followed by HR meet on 27th&28th January 2020. The 2nd part of 13th edition of BAJA SAEINDIA 2020 is scheduled at Chitkara University, Chandigarh from 5thto 8th March 2020, followed by HR meet on 9th March 2020.As far as eBAJA is concerned, more and more teams are getting ready to participate to learn eMobility technology moving very fast in the country. To promote electric mobility and to develop human resource for working in this area, SAEINDIA has declared a financial support of Rs.50,000 to all the new eBAJA teams. SAEINDIA also supports diversity like teams from all states, more women engineers and more engineering students from the non-mechanical background.SAEINDIA is gearing up to celebrate its silver Jubilee in 2020 with a plan to conduct Baja at three locations from 2021.
About BAJA SAEINDIA
BAJA SAEINDIA is an educational pursuit for the engineering college students, an out-of-classroom-education system, where engineering students can participate as a team, giving them pragmatic exposure to real-world challenges as faced in the industry. Originally started in the USA by the SAE International as Mini BAJA SAE, today it is being organized in several countries. In India, it is being organized as BAJA SAEINDIA. An international student level competition in which teams from universities all over the country, conceptualize, design, analyze, fabricate, validate and run an all-terrain vehicle. This is evaluated during a series of Static, Dynamic and Endurance events like the design, cost evaluation, sales presentation, acceleration, manoeuvrability, sledge pull, suspension & traction and main endurance.Over the years, BAJA has grown in numbers and has become a bigger event nationally, signifying its increasing popularity. It serves as a platform for young engineering talent to showcase their skills and acquire a real-life experience, while overcoming obstacles and challenges- something that is critical for their long-term success.Mahindra is playing a prominent role in slating the event since its inception under the able leadership of Dr. Pawan Goenka. Since the last 9 years, Mahindra is the title sponsor and proudly continues to remain the same this year too, and others like ARAI, Altair, Anand Automotive, Ansys, AVL, Bharat Petroleum, BKT, Bosch, Briggs & Stratton, Chitkara University, Continental, Cummins, Eleation, Faurecia, GM, IAC, iCAT, ITW Chemin, IIST Indore, L&T, LNCT Indore, Math Works, Medanta Hospital, MSC Software,MY FM, NATRiP, OYO Rooms, Padmini Engineering, Trim India, Radisson Hotels, TFM, Think Creative Solutions Ltd and V J Production are also proudly continuing their support towards the event. It is also supported by SIAM, ACMA, ASDC and AICTE.
About eBAJA
eBAJA is an event initiated by the Steering Committee & Organizing Committee of BAJA SAEINDIA which engages more than 1000 engineering students every year. To leverage the onset of electric mobility in India, SAEINDIA had started this event under the convenorship of Mr. Subodh Morye of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. in 2015. This is a platform where engineering students get an opportunity to build an electric vehicle on the same dynamics of BAJA rulebook and experience the wonder that this vehicle does with electric power. During a session with, His Excellency Late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India, he suggested utilizing this platform for national prosperity. Overwhelmed by his thoughts, the organizing committee decided to include a new sub-event to its 8th season – named eBAJA. The conventional BAJA is all about petrol driven ATVs, while the eBAJA vehicles run on an electric motor powered by a rechargeableLithium-ion battery pack.