Race car developed by SRM students wins big at Formula Bharat competition

A race car designed and developed by the students of SRM Institute of Science and Technology has won laurels at the recently held Formula Bharat national automobile design competition. The 28-strong Team Camber Racing bagged first prize in at least seven categories at the competition making it one of the most successful teams in the combustion engines category at the competition.

The car was designed and manufactured at the institute’s laboratory by the students under the guidance of K. Kamalakannan, head, Department of Automobile Engineering, and M. Jerome Stanley, Assistant Professor, Department of Automobile Engineering.

Except for the engine, the tyres, rims, master cylinders and wheel cylinders, the car was almost entirely made in-house, said Dr. Kamalakkannan. After rigorous training, the core group of students was drawn from various departments like Automobile Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, and even Biotechnology. “It was a highly inter-disciplinary team,” he added.

Apart from the dynamic categories such as endurance, skidpad, autocross, acceleration, engineering design, and fuel economy, the vehicle also won first prize in sustainability and best practices category. “The body is made of composite material. The firewall, the body part that separates the engine from the driver, was developed from rice husk. It is heat resistant and does not catch fire,” Dr. Kamalakkannan maintained.

The team began assembling the car from 2024. It runs on a KTM 390 cc single cylinder engine. However, the students had to build a CAD model of the engine based on the physical model and present it before the organisers. “It is a year-long competition where simulations and test results are to be shared with the event organisers periodically,” said Dr. Stanley. “There was a deadline for every spec and the students had to periodically update the organisers.”

Himanshu Kumar, final year student of Electronics and Communications Engineering, was the captain of the team while Aryan Sampath Nair of Mechatronics Engineering was the vice-captain. Shashank Reddy of Automobile Engineering was the technical director and Rohit Ramesh of the same department was the project manager looking after public relations, fund-raising, and documentation. T.K. Shakthiprasad of Automobile Engineering was the chief race driver.

The final phase of the competition was held at the Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore where about 60 teams from top engineering institutions in the country participated, Dr. Stanley added.