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Unfortunately we missed the Baja SAE India 2009, but thanks to a team of students from Smt. Kashibai Navale College of Engineering (SKNCOE) at Pune who had participated in the event, we got a firsthand drive experience of the competing vehicles. Members of Team Soulreapers drove their participating vehicles all the way to our office to let us understand the engineering inputs that went into this ATV.
The four-speed gearshifter - one down, three up |
You have to pull this lever to put the ATV in reverse gear - quite tricky |
The ATV is the second project vehicle of the team supported by the aforementioned college, its students and faculty members. BIKE India’s regular readers would remember a quad built by the same team that we featured in the magazine a little more than a year ago. This time however, their project was bigger, the expenses were higher and the challenges were greater.
Held in Indore, the Bajaj SAE India event is a platform for students from across the country to showcase their engineering prowess in real world conditions. Participating as a team, students are tasked to design, build, test and promote their vehicles as selected teams compete against each another. The machine created by SKNCOE students is powered by a 340cc single cylinder, four-stroke engine producing 11bhp of power and 23.5Nm of torque. The team comprising of Padamsinh Patil (Captain), Harish Kulkarni, Manish Nikam (Driver), Arjun Pawar, Aniket Tambe, Mandar Maniyar, Awdhoot Nalawade, Jayesh Nachare, Aditya Iskande, Amol Wankhade, Hrishikesh Yadav, Pratik Shelke, Yogesh More, Varun Shitole, Prashant Thikekar, Yogesh Kognole, Lalit Patil and Paresh Saindane won the award for achieving the maximum speed with this vehicle.
Quite optimistic to put that push start ignition button on this machine. We like the touch though |
The 400cc engine isn’t too powerful, but a rearwards weight bias means the machine pops a wheelie every time you release the clutch casually |
We drove the ATV in conditions that it is meant to be driven in – a rough, rocky, dusty terrain. The lightweight and the rear bias of the weight makes the machines pop its front wheel at the slightest hint of releasing the clutch without care. The driver’s knees are partially folded while driving this machine and the vehicle feels somewhat tall-ish to inspire confidence to push it hard or slide it around. The team driver, however, was seen happily pushing the machine sideways as soon as he hopped in the driver’s position. It didn’t take us long to understand why this ATV won the award for the highest speed.
The SKNCOE Soulreapers team with their creation |
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