The Rayat-Bahra Group's All Terrain Car has been adjudicated as the first in Asia in the coveted US Baja Race.A product of inventive young minds of Rayat-Bahra engineering college, the off-road vehicle was an entry from amongst 100 from prestigious institutes all over the world. Held from April 24 to April 27 at University of Texas, El Paso USA, the competition had experts from BRIGGS & STRATTON Corporation USA for engine, and Honda and Polaris experts for other specifications, adjudicating the vehicle.Congratulating the vibrant team, chairman of the group Gurvinder Singh Bahra said, “It is a moment of pride for us as our students’ designed cars have bagged positions in international events for the fourth time,” he said.
Built at a cost of Rs 35 lakh, it weighs 235 kg, has 10 BHP engine and is 305 CC car. At a torque of 14.50 Nm, the vehicle has wheels of Carlisle and Maxxis make. Parts assembled taken from other vehicles include rims of Tata Nano, brakes of Royal Enfield and TVS and other parts of Polaris. With an appreciable mileage of 15 km/lt, the cost of prototype is mere Rs 6 lacs.Under the competition, Rayat-Bahra team designed and built prototype of a rugged, single seat, off-road recreational vehicle intended for sale to the non-professional weekend off-road enthusiast. The safe, easily transported, easily maintained and fun to drive vehicle negotiates rough terrain without damage.
Earlier students of group had participated in three international competitions bagging first places in Asia. In April 2012 students designed Moonbuggy car and participated in NASA Great Moon Buggy Race at Alabama, USA. In June, 2009, students designed, fabricated Formula Car, which participated at California USA and achieved first position (endurance test). In June 2008, students fabricated a Super Mileage Car, which participated at Michigan, USA.
The team members who designed the coveted car included Captain Abhinav Sharma, Aakaash Bose, Ankit Girdher, Paras Bhardwaj, Navdeep Dimri, Gurbir Singh Benipal, Kartik Dogra, Abhishek Choudhary, Parminder Singh, Sameer Gupta and Hitesh Sharma. Dr. Jujhar Singh and Ashwani Kumar were the faculty advisors for this competition. Ankit Girdher from mechanical engineering department drove the vehicle during competition.The Rayat-Bahra’s automotive center has proven catalyst in converting these concept cars into real design. The center at Mohalli campus has leading auto corporate including Volkswagon, Maruti and Volvo Eicher helping the students to test their innovative ideas.
About Baja race competition
The Baja SAE Competition originated at the University of South Carolina in 1976, under the supervision of Dr. J. F. Stevens. Since that time, the competition has grown to become a premier engineering design series for university teams.Baja SAE is an intercollegiate engineering design competition for undergraduate and graduate engineering students. The object of the competition is to simulate real-world engineering design projects and their related challenges. Each team is competing to have its design accepted for manufacture by a fictitious firm. The students must function as a team to design, build, test, promote and complete a vehicle within the limits of the rules, also to generate financial support for their project and manage their educational priorities.