An Indian Formula Student competition

Humans of Formula Bharat

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humansofformulabharat

(2 / 2) We pushed ourselves harder and did well at

(2 / 2) We pushed ourselves harder and did well at Formula Bharat 2019, despite again having no good resources. All this happened because of a really good team. We finished 7th overall.

In 2020, I was the team leader for the second time in a row. We had built a really good car and it was capable of finishing in the top five in Formula Bharat. It was around 180 kgs, handled dynamically well, and was perfect for Formula Bharat track. Unfortunately, we crashed that car three days before the event during testing. It was utterly destroyed and unsalvageable. Luckily the driver made it out safely, but there was no way we could proceed competing. Of course, everyone was depressed. A lot of people just cried. I wanted to take my team to the podium before my time was complete and we had worked so hard for this. Everyone felt disheartened, even more, disheartened than the FSG incident.

What did come out of this entire ordeal was the strong team bonding and friendships that stuck for a longer time, even after graduating.

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(1 / 2) Being a team lead can be incredibly stress

(1 / 2) Being a team lead can be incredibly stressful and sometimes it can be difficult to hold it all together. Although in my opinion, we had a strong team, we had a series of unfortunate events during my term which turned out to be very depressing.

In our first year, we registered for Formula Student Germany. It was not before long we realized that we did not have enough resources to go there. It was a long shot for us. We did not have any sponsors and so we had to rake in the money ourselves. We were running so thin on our resources that we could not even complete our car. Despite all the setbacks, we made it to FSG. There, we could not clear the technical inspection. We were stuck up in pre-tech for around three days before a German team gave us some of their tires to help us at least try to clear. That is how bad the situation was. After the fiasco, we had to put in some more money to bring the car back from Germany because we did not pay the full amount for the logistics at that time.

Despite all that, we worked our hearts out for the Formula Bharat event which was in January - around 4 months later. We thought we had made a very good car. At least, that is what we thought. But what happened in Formula Bharat was even more depressing. We were stuck in the TI for the entire time, and by the time we made it to the brakes test, we could not clear due to leaks. All this had almost pushed me to depression.

#humansofformulabharat #hofb #formulabharat #formulastudent #formulastudentindia #formulaindia

I am a 2021 B.Tech graduate in automobile engineer

I am a 2021 B.Tech graduate in automobile engineering from SRM Chennai. I am also the former captain of 4ze Racing. I love cars. I was so passionate about cars that my childhood is filled with stories of adventure with them.

When I chose the science and maths field after 10th standard, I was in search for a career that excited me. I looked in IT, mechanical, and many more. Then something happened that stuck with me for life. A friend came up to me and asked if I wished to make a car out of a small motor that he had with him. I became curious and researched a bit. We got a lead-acid battery so that we did not require any controller. It was a DC motor. Anyways, we went on with the plan and built a car. That phase of life, - in those three months - I felt elevated and excited. I decided to choose this as my career. After some counseling with my older relatives, I realized that this is what I have been looking for my entire life.

When I went to college for counseling, I saw some people working in the workshop on open-cockpit cars. I wanted to be a part of these teams. In my first year of college, I started prepping on how to get into these teams, what are these teams about, and what were they looking for in a person. I gave entrance tests and finally, in February 2018, I was selected on the 4ze Racing team as an aerodynamics team member. It wasn't until long that I got promoted to the role as aerodynamics lead. 8. I later attended my first FS event - Formula Bharat 2019. It has been a great journey of learning since then.

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During the first two years on the team, I was majo

I was born in Ranchi, Jharkhand. After living ther

I was born in Ranchi, Jharkhand. After living there for a while, I moved six times. I like to move to new places. As a child, I grew up playing with Hot Wheels. I liked them so much that my mother bribed me with new toy cars if I put in more effort in school work. So I got my obsession with cars from there. At the same time, my uncle who was in the Merchant Navy used to bring pictures of ships, engines, huge pistons, and much more. I grew up watching those as well. I think all these experiences guided me towards the engineering field.

I chose Mechanical Engineering as a line of study, as it was more mainstream than Automobile Engineering. Although I was getting a seat in Computer Engineering, I opted for the former for very obvious reasons. In hindsight, it was the best decision I made. In my second year, we had the liberty of choosing clubs and I somehow made it into the Supra SAE club at my college.

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There were a few instances that took place when I

There were a few instances that took place when I was the Team Manager. We had just started the manufacturing phase at the time and had developed an issue with the vendor - the ones who had told us prior that they would do the CNC for our parts. They had suddenly backed out. So we had to start from square one and had to look out for new vendors and sponsors. But again, there were very few people at that time. Also, since our manufacturing work started right after our exams, all the hostelites went to their homes as they only got this chance just once or twice a year. That made manufacturing even more challenging. Thankfully, we eventually did get sponsors for the CNCs.

The manufacturing team did face a lot of issues as we had to rework several of our parts. That was a hard time for me. I had to stand and inspect the parts at the vendor’s facility regardless of rain or any other issue that came through. Also, many of the vendors who work here at the industrial areas are not used to seeing girls coming in and getting such work done. Of course, our sponsors were quite respectful in this matter. But two vendors did not take me seriously at the beginning. I had to pester them constantly and make them understand the manufacturing process involved in our parts. Call or text or show up - anything to get them to finish our work on time. This work was quite tedious. I always thought that maybe if more girls were into this line of work, perhaps the concern of whether I was credible or not wouldn’t arise.

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Like any typical Indian student, I had no clue wha

Like any typical Indian student, I had no clue what I wanted to do. I knew that I did not wish to do computers and electronics. That’s when my father suggested that I pursue mechanical engineering as it is an 'evergreen' field in his opinion.

But two years into engineering, I was completely lost. I could understand it but somehow it felt like I did not belong there. That’s when I found out about the FS team at my college. I was part of a cultural team in my second year and that was the time when our FS team had participated in SAE Supra and had won. Everyone was feeling joyous and elated.

Our committee had organized a small solicitation event. While capturing photos for the FS team at the event, I realized that I wanted to be a part of the team. In the following year, I gave the test and got into the team quickly. After that, a few months later, I was part of the integral core team.

When I joined the team, it was only their third season. In the second attempt, we had won the national competition where no one even knew our name. It was quite a big thing for us. I even asked my seniors what their thoughts were and how our team was different from the others. One thing they mentioned is that we don’t participate just for the sake of participating. We go there to learn and once that is achieved, we have to eventually win. That is our motto. Essentially, we want to learn, have interactions with the other teams, and get to know about every single part, no matter how small or old the other teams were. This philosophy resonated with me on many levels.

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This happened in 2018. On the first day after the

This happened in 2018. On the first day after the event, we were supposed to return from the motor speedway to the hotel via the bus provided by our logistics partner. However, that day his bus broke down and he asked us to arrange an alternate transport for ourselves. That year and even previously, getting cabs or autos or any other form of transportation from Kari was very difficult. We sent half of our team with another team’s transport option to Coimbatore and the seniors remained at the motorway to find alternatives. To conserve energy and time, our priority was to get to the hotel as soon as possible. We started walking it out from the speedway. We found three autos on the way and there were thirteen of us. Somehow, we managed to fit ourselves in those three autos.

But then the worst thing imaginable happened. One of the autos met with an accident. Two of the members broke their collar bone, and another one had a serious head injury and was unconscious for quite some time. He later had a concussion and could not remember much for a long time. We were utterly devastated. Our priorities were now to ensure these injured people are safe and healthy. They were rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.

The hospital informed us that the guys who had their collar bones broken needed surgery and the one with head injury required plastic surgery. In all that orderal, I think it was that one moment changed us forever. The team was closer than ever before. Everyone was standing outside the hospital. Many of us were crying. That is one moment of pain that is engraved in our hearts.

The competition judging staff were extremely supportive. Three of the judges even came to the hospital at night. We needed money for the operations and these judges actually paid the advance fees out of their pocket. The operations were successful and our injured members were able to get discharged after two days.

All this really brought us together. After the event, almost everyone wanted to continue in the team despite this major setback. Even to this day, we all share that comradery that is very close to our hearts.

#humansofformulabharat #hofb #formulabharat #formulastudent

I had just entered college in 2016. I was strollin

I had just entered college in 2016. I was strolling on the campus taking in the feel of it all, when I saw a peculiar car in the campus parking lot. My seniors were there and they were testing their Formula Student car. I became curious and inquired about the car. They explained how they built it and manufactured it. I found this impressive. So I asked if I could join the team and learn from them. But I was rejected, as freshers were not allowed to be part of the Formula Student team in my college.

However, one of the seniors who I called Sandeep bhaiya, allowed me to join the team unofficially. My first job was to collect all the screws, nut bolts, wrenches, screwdrivers or any other equipment laying around. My seniors also taught me about various types of components. I made many mistakes, but I also learned from my mistakes. The seniors became my mentors, always looking out for me. Till date, I have the utmost admiration for them.

I landed on the team officially in my second year. Although the HOD was against my recruitment, I was still selected due to my perseverance. I also went on to win the CAE Award in SAE SUPRA 2019. It comes down to this fact: no matter where we start, if we work hard and strive for success, then we can eventually achieve something bigger, and better.

#humansofformulabharat #hofb #formulabharat #formulastudent #formulastudentindia #formulaindia

In around October 2017, I had become a part of the

In around October 2017, I had become a part of the team in my first year. I still remember, 50-60 trainees were called upon when the year started. By the end of my fourth year, only 6-7 people of those who had joined the team the same time, remained.

Initially, for the first three months, we were just allowed to clean up the old vehicles, assemble them and check if the parts of the car were good or not. That was the time when we were completely exposed to the vehicles and all the engineering stuff that happens along with it. There was no compulsion to join any particular department. We used to do anything that needed to be done. Be it cleaning up the batteries, old transmission systems, tubes, and then even repainting these things. We used to help our seniors a lot.

In May 2020, our core team had to transition to leadership roles. We knew what our seniors did for team building or to manage conflicts, but we never faced a situation in their positions prior to the team’s transition. For instance, we all know that honesty is the best policy but unless we implement it in real life, we don’t really know what it takes to say that statement. Just like that, almost suddenly it was our responsibility for the fate of the team in the future. We had this discussion as a team: is it stress or is it pressure that we were facing? And at the time, a senior member explained to us in the following analogy. Say an archer is told to hit an apple, but the twist is that his own son is standing with the apple on his head. So in this situation, the son is in stress while the father is experiencing pressure. The son has all the non-controllable factors in his disposition, while the father has the controllable ones. In that case, such is life. There are various uncontrollable and controllable factors in front of you - so try your best to ‘convert’ the uncontrollable to the controllable, and once you have the control, do the best you can.

#humansofformulabharat #hofb #formulabharat #formulastudent #formulastudentindia #formulaindia

Since this was the first time my college had made

Since this was the first time my college had made a Baja team, we had the arduous task of looking for sponsors. So the first thing we tried was to get in touch with our seniors, some of our college professors, or a few contacts we had in companies that could provide sponsorships. We were also trying to learn what it is like to be sponsored. Companies who sponsor something also look for what they are getting in return as well. This was the most difficult part for us - explaining to them the profitability of their sponsorship.

When I was the captain of the Stealth Racing team at Sastra in 2014, I realized that there is a lot of advantage for an established college when you are looking for sponsorship because you have a backup of a lot of activities that you can rely on and you can provide the visibility of the product the company has sponsored in various fest and events. We learned a lot from this gradually. But initially, we had to use contacts and even cold-call various companies trying to gain their support.

We were given opportunities that were beneficial for us. We went to Chennai and talked to some companies and eventually, one of them became interested. There was also a manufacturing company from Hyderabad that was into sheet metal works. They sponsored our vehicle’s cockpit and other sheet metal work. There was also a steering-making company from Chennai that sponsored the amount used to fund the steering mechanism. And all this is how we proved ourselves to everyone.

#humansofformulabharat #hofb #formulabharat #formulastudent #formulastudentindia #formulaindia

(2/2) The experience that you get on this platfor

(2/2)

The experience that you get on this platform, with practical hardship and adversity in developing your emotional intelligence is incomparable. Particularly, with the high-pressure environment that as administrators we intentionally subject you to.

I have not seen another collegiate university-level volunteering activity outside of sport that pushes the students to such an extent, and which helps develop your EQ. Sport is, of course, highly valuable. And I see Formula Student on a similar level. I also strongly recommend the Formula Student participants should, if they can, engage with participants at some other universities.

It was at our disadvantage at the University of Toronto that we were so competitive that we thought we couldn’t interact with any other team. We were young people and we were enthralled in the competition. So I can see how this happened. There are half a dozen other Formula Student teams within driving distance of our school. In fact, we could have walked to another school. Yet we didn’t. We saw them as intense competitors. We saw everyone as an intense competitor and that they were our sworn enemies. Even so much so that when we had regional events - whether we organized our own or were organized by the SAE - we wouldn’t socialize with anyone, because we were so steeped in the competition.

So my recommendation or retrospective lesson and advice would be, yes, embrace the competition but do not let that get in the way of you connecting with the fellow students. Because rarely in life do we find people so similar to ourselves. Often the students feel alone. But others are also going through the same thing and that everyone can provide comfort to everyone else.

#humansofformulabharat #hofb #formulabharat #formulastudent #formulastudentindia #formulaindia

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