A fancy car has always been and still is treated like a status symbol. It’s an aspect of one’s life that makes an individual splurge like never before to get their hands on the best one. Although, for anyone who wants to make a well thought, smart decision that benefits multiple aspects of their lives, checking out used cars seems like the most obvious option.
Traditionally, used cars have been surrounded with quite a lot of skepticism in terms of condition, comfort, quality, model, etc. However, due to the rapid growth of the used cars industry in India, more and more people opt to buy used cars. There are many reasons that have led to the expansion of the used cars’ market in the country. Here are some of them:
Designing a car & making it is not as easy as sitting & watching a movie on a couch. Making a car doesn’t just mean to join the parts we bought; it needs to have deep knowledge of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, dynamics & must also be able to do calculations which fits the rules & which doesn’t damage the car. One cannot do this being a book worm; it requires lot of creativity, ‘engineering expertise and motor racing skills. Team Ashwa has proved that they have all these qualities.
While the students in BCom colleges in Bangalore were having fun, some engineering students – the Ashwa team of RV college of Engineering; were working hard to make their super car.
Ashwa Racing is India’s premier Formula SAE (FSAE) team. The FSAE (Formula Society of Engineers) event is one in which SAE student members conceive, design, fabricate and compete with other similar formula-style student racing cars in a race organized by SAEin a different country every year.
R S Kulkarni who advises the team says:
The team is the number one formula racing university team in the country. It competes with teams from US and Europe who have vast financial and other resources at their disposal. We have to work with what we can afford. They are also competing against teams which have more than two decades experience in automotive racing. Yet the team has bagged the best Asian team award and is in the top rankings
FSAE India. The event is also called as SUPRA SAEINDIA ! source:- http://edu.autosportsindia.com/
The body of the car is made from glass fibre. Also the engine is taken from an crashed bike to reduce the expenses. They say that the engine capacity is 600 cc & can hit a top speed of 100 km/hr or a few more. It cost them around 15 lakh Rs to make it. Total 7 prototypes were made; the last one made in 2011.
Kulkarni says that this amount may seem high at first, but when compared to foreign teams who spend around whooping Rs 2 crore to design and build their own cars. “One thing we have been appreciated for is the cost-effectiveness of our car and yet its very good performance.”
The car model name was earlier RVIANZ, to commemorate student life at RVCE. Later, it was shortened to RZ.
Ashwa team has been participating in the competitions of FSAE since 2005. This is because they completed their first prototype(out of 7, as I mentioned earlier) in 2005. They participated in the competition in 2005 & 2006 in Australia followed by 2007 & 2008 in Germany & 2009-10 in Italy.
The team’s last prototype, RZ X, successfully completed the Formula ATA Italy event in 2010 winning The Best Asian Team award.
If anyone is wondering – why the word Ashwa ? what does it mean ? Well, I should tell you that Sanskrit is most ancient & philosophical language of India. According to Sanskrit, Ashwa means Stallion. Hence, the name was chosen for the team.
