Indian students from the Dubai campus of BITS Pilani, have won the coveted third spot at the Formula Student Netherlands 2022 competition (FSN). Team Al Fursan, comprising 14 Indian students of BITS Dubai Motorsports Club, in association with M.A.H.Y Khoory & Co. LLC, was the only team to have been selected for Formula Student Netherlands 2022 from the Middle East and North Africa region, which then competed with 18 teams from some of the best universities all over the world.

FSN is the Dutch edition of the world’s largest student engineering competition, which challenges students to understand, design, and develop a formula-style racing car. The event took place from July 11-14 at Assen TT Circuit known for its high-speed corners, long straights and world-class events such as MotoGP and DTM.

With the support of Dr Srinivasan Madapusi, Director, BITS Pilani Dubai Campus (BPDC) and faculty in-charge Dr. Priyank Upadhaya and various other faculty and staff members of BPDC, the 14-member team comprising engineering students from multidisciplinary groups of BITS Pilani Dubai Campus came together in the fall of 2021 with the sole purpose of designing a car focused on ‘Driver Ergonomics’. The indigenously-built car was designed specifically considering the health aspects, comfort and safety of a driver, drawing upon biology, psychology, engineering and design that created vehicle environments in which drivers have a lower chance of injury. The team built a Formula Student Car in the BPDC adhering to the rules and regulations of the Formula Student Rule book.

Madapusi said, “One of the biggest factors that sets BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus apart is the career-focused style of education. With competitions like FSN, our students get so much real-world work experience in the field before graduation. This is an excellent example of translation of learning in the classroom to a high-performance application environment accompanied by highly efficient use of resources. It also underscores the passion, enterprise and teamwork displayed by our students. The Formula Student Netherlands is one of the biggest of its kind, competition at a European and a global level. I am proud of the win and we at BPDC are grateful for all the support from the faculty and sponsors who have made this commendable achievement possible.”

The students overcame the hurdles of supply-chain logistics during the pandemic and funding, were able to finish the project on time, thanks to their mentors and guides. Dr Upadhyaya said, “Two of these boys were doing their summer internship when they approached me and told me about their plans. I encouraged them to start the process. That’s how they took up the challenge and finally participated in the competition.”

“Challenges were manifold. There was no initial documentation to guide us around was available. We had to spend a lot of time learning about things. For the first time, we were building this car as a team in the UAE, and we couldn’t find many suppliers of components and parts in the GCC market. We had to check around in different countries.” explained Adhav Kumaravel a fourth-year Mechanical engineering student.

The hard-working student group has also been picked for Solution Bharat – FS Bharat – an Indian Formula Student-style engineering design competition.

Team member Shobal Philip Roy said, “It took us nine months to plan, execute and complete the car; we started off with a blank paper and then worked throughout to build a racecar that we engineered ourselves. It’s great being part of such a passionate and dedicated group, the entire team is eager to learn, adapt and execute things that are new to them under difficult circumstances. I appreciate my team for their constant support and cooperation throughout all stages of development. We aim to develop more cars in the coming years that will be eco-friendlier and lean with high performance and efficiency. We thank all the sponsors that supported us with monetary and technical help. We hope they extend their support in the coming years as well.”

The internationally-acclaimed branch of India-based BITS Pilani – an Institution of national repute is known for providing technical education of the highest standards. 

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