Students of National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology (NIFFT) who have designed a Formula One racing car have failed to get sponsors to dish out funds for fabricating the same.
They require `20 lakh to complete the job and participate in the prestigious student design competition organised by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) in Italy. This is for the second time that students of this cradle are supposed to get exposure at Italy conclave.
“last year we managed the car making and transportation within Rs 15 lakh in the last moment wherein we had to contribute Rs 3.5 lakh from our own pocket money. Our contribution is obvious but we cannot spend for all the expenses. Our faculty will issue a cheque in the favour of sponsor only if we submit an invoice of the materials we want to buy. We need money to purchase the suspension and wheels,” Manufacturing Engineering final year student Hitesh Godhwani, also associated with this 25-member team said.
He added, “Only three months are left to move to Italy for the event. Still, sponsors have not shown interest in our creativity. We have approached almost all the corporate houses and are looking forward to get some support from the government of Jharkhand.”
Sources in the premiere technical institute maintained that the administration has clearly stated that the college does not have funds for such activities.
Highlighting the uniqueness of this car, the brochure of NIFFT indicates on the extra light carbon fibre body, monocoque chasis, turbo charged engine and kinetic energy recovery system.
last year, these students became the first entry ever from the Indian subcontinent, to win the top prize at Formula SAE. They had then made Trespasser— a Formula 1 car — which was basically cost feasible. Apart from NIFFT Ranchi, Indian School of Mines Dhanbad (ISM) had successfully registered for this international event from Jharkhand but the latter is not participating due to financial crunch this time. “Six colleges across India had registered for the event. We had to opt out taking into account the monetary constraints,” Kushagra Bhardwaj, a student of the SM team confirmed.
The unique feature of the formula car designed by these students is the pedal shifters.
Meanwhile, the ISM students have qualified for the first position in the preliminary quiz of Formula Student India 2015 held on May 25. Bhardwaj said that the last round of this event will be in the month of January 2015.
On March 3, The Pioneer through its report ‘NIFFT students design another F1 car’ was the first to publish the initiative of NIFFT students for the second formula car.