Jalandhar: The School of Mechanical Engineering at Lovely Professional University (LPU) organized four-day International Go-Kart Championship (IGC) 2017, which concluded today at its campus. LPU Society of Automotive Engineers & Collegiate Club (LPU-SAE CC) monitored the whole event for 20,000+ spectators. Much awaited in the engineering students’ community, the event witnessed Innovative engineering students’ self-designed go-karts speeding up on 10 Kms long ‘first ever in-campus Race-Track’ in India. Of 70+ teams registered by international & national students from 7 countries & Indian states, only 25 teams entered final racing round. Showcasing excellent design, sturdy construction and efficient kart, the teams ‘Vijayant’ from Oriental Institute of Science & Technology (Bhopal), ‘Agonaz’ from Government College of Coimbatore and ‘Argus Elite’ of LPU won first prize (Rs 1.10 Lakh), second (Rs 70,000) and third prize (Rs 50,000) respectively. In all, cash prizes worth Rs 3,50,000 were distributed to the best teams adjudged in different fields. 15 Eminent Judges from the world of auto-industry including Maruti Suzuki, I-CAT, Hero Motors Corp, TCS, Mahindra Swaraj, Mahle, Natrip and Eastman judged the event.
Prior to this LPU Chancellor Mr Ashok Mittal, Pro Chancellor Mrs Rashmi Mittal & Senior General Manager I-CAT Mr UD Bhangale had flagged off the race in the morning hours, and awarded the trophy and cash prizes to the winners during the celebrative hours in the evening. Congratulating all winners and the participants, LPU Chancellor Mr Mittal motivated all students to keep on applying their theoretical knowledge into creative and dynamic forms to further excel in the world.
Near 1000 students and faculty members from across India and many countries participated with strong belief to be judged as the best engineering team. After pre-final rounds based on technical, endurance and dynamic tests, the race of near 80 Kms was to be covered in one and a half hour for all the finalized Go-Karts. The final teams used engines of 100 to 125cc in their vehicles for top speed of 80 kms and an average speed of 40-50 kms per hour. The participating students had to design and fabricate their ‘Go-Karts’ in extremely low budget and weight, and to be fit for several tests and tasks.
Explaining about the organization of the event, LPU Dean Dr Gurpreet Phull informed: “We had 200+ student and faculty coordinators with us, who worked day & night for full five-months to see this event come out successful in every aspect. We all are thankful to LPU which keeps on organizing such research oriented, practical and innovative activities for student community as a whole.” Participating Girl-students Anushree from SRM University Chennai, Surbhi Dixit from OIST Bhopal and Alisha Pattnaik of LPU shared: “We are happy that we worked equally hard with boys in the male dominated field of automobile engineering. It was indeed a great experience for all of us. We all want to say that the event was ‘excellent’ in every aspect.”