SAEINDIA and Mahindra Announce Virtual Round for BAJA SAEINDIA 2020: To be Held in Chitkara University

By Samachar Vishesh News

Chandigarh 11^th July:- 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 13^thedition 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 that 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 that 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, sends 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 2^nd leg of BAJA SAEINDIA 2020 at its vast campus.

The finale will be held at the NATRAX facility of NATRIP at Pithampur near Indore, from 23^rdto 26^th January 2020, followed by HR meet on 27^th & 28^th January 2020. The 2^nd part of 13^th edition of BAJA SAEINDIA 2020 is scheduled at Chitkara University, Chandigarh from 5^th to 8^th March 2020, followed by HR meet on 9^th March 2020.