Campus connect: DY Patil’s Akurdi Predators drive home the winner at auto competition
DY Patil Engineering College, Akurdi, won first prize for a vehicle that, on the basis of acceleration, speed, durability and endurance, went on to claim top honours in five out of eight categories at the auto event
A car built from scratch by the DY Patil Engineering College, Akurdi, has won one of the country’s most prestigious auto competitions, the Baja-SAE India-20.
This national competition, is organised by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), backed in turn by Mahindra.
DY Patil Engineering College, Akurdi, won first prize for a vehicle that, on the basis of acceleration, speed, durability and endurance, went on to claim top honours in five out of eight categories at the auto event.
At the national level, among engineers studying to develop the next super-car or, as the Musk zeitgeist suggests, the next zero-emission vehicle, the Baja competition has gained some urban legend status.
Teams from at least 20 colleges across the country took part this year.
So DY Patil’s victory is a revving up of student-power to drive the claims of inventive and collaborative projects very much at home in the city.
The 2020 competition was organised on the largest automobile test route in Asia, at Pritampur in Madhya Pradesh.
DY Patil principal Vijay Wadhai said, “This success will be an inspiration to other college students. DY Patil College of Engineering Akurdi has always made its mark on this competition. The talent, quality and skills of the students were tested and the students consistently proved their status by achieving this success.”
Students from production, electronics and telecommunication joined hands with the college’s mechanical department to form the Predators.
Sanket Raut (captain), Pranav Khatekar (drive manager), Apurva Mahind, Sourav Ingle, Tejas Dhakate, Vishakha Kotkar, Rigveda Bopardikar, Anshul Gupta, Srikanth Nakhate, Kevin Bhosle, Vipul Jadhav, Prithviraj Shinde, Ali Abu Farjand , Pratik Birajdar, Vedanta Kulkarni, Mrinal Daundkar and Mrinal Argade formed team Predators.