Mahindra BAJA SAEINDIA 2016 commences its ninth edition

Pune, October 26, 2015: Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd in association with SAEINDIA, a professional Society of Automotive Engineers, today announced the commencement of the ninth edition of the much awaited BAJA series. The finale will be held at NATRIP facility at Pithampur near Indore, from February 16 till Feb 21, 2016. About 395 entries were received for BAJA SAEINDIA 2016, out of which 147 teams were shortlisted for conventional BAJA and 32 teams were shortlisted for e-BAJA in the virtual round.

BAJA SAEINDIA has also rolled out e-BAJA series, to leverage the onset of electric mobility in India. The e-BAJA vehicles will run on electricity and can be recharged by solar power. They will be propelled by an electric motor, powered by a rechargeable battery pack.

The endurance round for e-BAJA will be held on February 20, 2016. To encourage the teams there are special awards for endurance round and best e-BAJA team.

BAJA SAEINDIA, this year, is going with the theme “Passion to Podium” which symbolises the ultimate spirit and enthusiasm within the students to showcase their talent to achieve BAJA podium. Since, the next level of excellence in Indian Automotive Industry will come through passion driven initiatives, BAJA SAEINDIA podium is an opportunity for many to stand in front of the world and prove their mettle. It will motivate students to raise the bar and bring immense talent out in the world. Last year, the students strived towards “Beyond the Boundaries” across all levels of BAJA SAEINDIA. This year, a total of 4400 students from all zones- Western, Northern, Eastern and Southern zones in India will mark the ninth edition of BAJA series in Indore.

For BAJA 2016, 24 colleges from Pune are among the 45 entries from Maharashtra that have qualified to the finale. For the last three BAJA series, the maximum number of entries from Maharashtra has been from the city of Pune. In 2014 and in 2015, colleges from Pune have won the maximum number of awards in the finale.

For the BAJA finale, entries from engineering colleges from across the country were screened in the virtual round, where they presented their Designs for the BAJA Buggy vehicle that they wish to design for the final event.

The qualifying teams were selected through a thorough analysis and comparison of the CAD Designs, the CAE analysis and the designs of Suspension, Steering & Brakes. The entries presented at the virtual BAJA were mock-ups that would be created with exact specifications by the participants. The teams in the final round would showcase their skills, understanding and passion for automobiles while having manufactured their own buggy race car.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sudhir Gupte – Convener BAJA SAEINDIA 2016 said, “Mahindra BAJA SAEINDIA has been a platform for many undergraduate engineering students across the country to leverage their skills and knowledge. These students, after getting into the industry, use their skills & problem solving techniques to develop innovative technology and effective processes. Through this event, BAJA SAEINDIA is transforming lives of many passionate students who are ambitious & talented

enough to do great things in their lives”.

The BAJA SAEINDIA series aims to provide an opportunity for young, enthusiastic and talented engineering students, to showcase their passion for automobiles while encouraging them to conceive, design and fabricate 4-wheeled single-seater all terrain vehicles.

BAJA SAEINDIA is an educational pursuit for the engineering college students, an out-of-classroom- education system, where engineering students from all over India 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 world plan, design, analyze, fabricate and validate an all terrain car which is evaluated during a series of Static, Dynamic and Durability events like design, cost evaluation, presentation, acceleration, maneuverability, hill climb and endurance.

BAJA SAEINDIA is currently active on social networking website Facebook, and has grabbed the interest of numerous individuals. Since fan base is an integral part of any event, the 8th edition of the BAJA SAEINDIA has received more than 80,000 likes.

About e-BAJA

e-BAJA is the concept of electric driven BAJA ATVs to lay emphasis on “Electrical Mobility”. As the conventional BAJA is all about petrol driven ATVs, e-BAJA vehicles will run on electricity and can be recharged by solar power. They will be propelled by an electric motor powered by rechargeable battery packs.

About SAEINDIA

SAEINDIA is a professional engineering society of automotive engineers with a vision to continuously enrich the knowledge base of practitioners in the mobility industry and institutions in the service of humanity.