Amrita engineering students built a formula car for SUPRA SAE, a global competition organized by the Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE). The contest was organized last year in Chennai, for the first time in India. The Amritapuri campus of Amrita University participated and the 23-member student team was the only one selected from Kerala. The frame was in-house built from high-strength 4130 Chrome-moly steel tube, while the body was custom fabricated on-site from glass fibre.
The engine and transmission for all the cars in the event were donated by an Indian OEM. Other parts were either designed and built entirely from scratch or taken from existing production automobiles.
The judges noted the car for its environment friendly impact attenuator made from aluminum beverage cans. As per the rules, the same chassis is being used for the 2012 FSAE competition. Modifications are being made to reduce the weight, increase the reliability, and fix minor problems that crept up last year. A new innovation on this year’s car is an electronically controlled transmission shifter. A new low-cost and lightweight frame for the 2013 car has already been designed and analyzed.
“Endeavoring to build a race car has helped us really understand and apply all basic concepts in engineering mechanics such as distribution of forces, design of materials, kinetics of the machinery, etc.”, last year’s Team Leader of the effort, who is now working as a Chassis Suspension Engineer in the Indian automotive industry.
