TEAM HELIOS RACING NEWSLETTER – 2017
EDITION #1 Contact- Abhishek Bolar: 9448723255; Sukrit Patil: 7760428744 Website: www.teamheliosracing.com; e-mail: teamhelios.sae@gmail.com
Contents Greetings from Team Helios Racing! As we dive into another exciting new season, Team Helios Racing would like to thank all of our sponsors and well wishers for their constant support and encouragement. In the following pages we would like to share with you the highlights of our journey so far (2015 to 2017) , updates from our workshop this season, our 2018 team and our goals and plans for the coming year.
About Team Helios Racing •About RVCE, BAJA and Team Helios Racing...........................................................................1 •Our Achievements so far.............................................................................................................2
Our Journey •Principal and Faculty advisors speak..........................................................................................3 •Looking back at 2016.-17............................................................................................................4 •2018 Team and season goals.......................................................................................................5
What’s New - Updates •Season timeline and updates.......................................................................................................6 •Sponsorship update.....................................................................................................................7 •Decade of Helios.........................................................................................................................9
About Team Helios Racing Team Helios Racing is the BAJA team of Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering (RVCE), a private educational institution in Bangalore, Karnataka. The students of RVCE operate many projects supported by SAE and participate in intercollegiate design competitions in India and abroad.
About BAJA BAJA is an intercollegiate engineering design competition for students whose objective is to simulate real-world engineering design projects. Each team endeavours to design and fabricate an industry standard All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV). The competition challenges teams' design skills by putting their car to the test in the harshest and most unforgiving of terrains in events like acceleration, manoeuvrability, suspension and traction and a four hours long endurance race.
History of Team Helios Racing Our team was founded in 2005 and became the first Indian team to participate in an International BAJA event at South Africa in 2006. From 2007 until 2013, we participated in BAJA SAE India, but it was in 2014 that we had an exemplary performance securing the 3 rd place in the Endurance event and the 6th place overall. In 2015, we were crowned the National Champions at BAJA Student India securing the 1st place in Endurance, Acceleration and Manoeuvrability. At BAJA SAE USA Rochester 2016, our team secured the 2nd place in acceleration becoming the 2nd fastest car in the world. At Enduro Student India 2017, we had the 2nd lightest car in the competition and in BAJA SAE India, we secured the 3rd place in Suspension and Traction.
Achievements Here is a quick look at how our team has fared during the last few years…
BAJA STUDENT INDIA 2015 Acceleration - 1st Maneuverability – 1st Endurance -1st Hill climb -2nd Design -3rd Overall -1st
BAJA SAE INDIA 2015 Hill climb – 2nd Raftaar – 2nd Overall – 4th
BAJA STUDENT INDIA 2016 Acceleration - 1st Design – 3rd Overall – 9th
BAJA SAE USA 2016 Acceleration – 2nd Design- 17th Overall- 26th
BAJA SAE INDIA 2016 Go green – 1st Acceleration – 2nd Hill climb – 2nd Endurance – 2nd Overall – 5th
ENDURO STUDENT INDIA 2017 Lightest car – 2nd Overall - 17th BAJA SAE INDIA 2017 Suspension & traction – 3rd Overall – 26th
Principal and Faculty Advisors Speak Surpassing each of our milestones during our BAJA journey would not have been possible without the support of our college and faculty advisors. Their encouragement, unwavering support and able guidance has helped us at every step of the way.
Dr. KN Subramanya Principal R V College of Engineering
I am very glad to note that Team Helios Racing has completed a decade in the design and development of All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) having participated in national and international competitions. I am also happy to note that they have brought laurels to the institution, having used the appropriate technology for the development of ATVs which has enabled good learning in the student group. I hope the team will secure the No. 1 position and bring the name of RV College of Engineering to the forefront. I wish Team Helios Racing all the best in their future activities.
I have been a part of Team Helios Racing since its inception and it is heartening to see it mature into a well balanced team. Although there were some challenges along the way, the team handled them effectively and emerged victorious. Since the team became the National Champion in 2015, there has been no looking back. The team has gone from strength to strength, with the golden moment being at Baja SAE USA, Rochester in 2016 where they not Dr. R S Kulkarni only completed the endurance race successfully but also became the Senior Faculty Advisor 2nd fastest BAJA car in the world. I would like to express my Team Helios Racing sincere gratitude to R V College of Engineering for believing in the team and encouraging them and all the sponsors for their kind support. Kudos to the team for their amazing performance. I am very proud of them and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavours.
Dr. J R Nataraj Faculty Advisor Team Helios Racing
Since its inception in 2005, Team Helios Racing (THR) has been involved in Design, Fabrication, Testing and Racing of All Terrain Vehicles (ATV), for competitions in India and abroad. Team Helios Racing provides a platform for the Mechanical Engineering students of RV College of Engineering to apply the knowledge gained in the class room to develop a cutting edge, top notch All Terrain Vehicle. The prizes won by the team at national and international events are testimonials to the team’s prowess. The team is exposed to all aspects of the Industry such as R&D, fabrication, testing, marketing, team management and funds generation etc. With the support of the management, Principal, HOD and Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Department of our college, we wish Team Helios Racing the very best in its future endeavours.
Looking back at 2016-17 Our team’s 2016-17 season has been an eye opener of sorts. We have had many learning experiences and grown as a team. We have learnt loads from our 2017 batch and appreciate their constant support and passion.
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Team Helios Racing, the name still resonates in my ears, every day. What started out as a casual registration at the college canteen in my first year, turned out to be a life changing experience. The amount of growth that I saw in myself within these 4 years was exponential, the journey has taught me many things. The fun part of being in such collegiate student teams is that, apart from considering technical aspects to get your design right, you also have to manage a lot of non-technical activities like publicity, sponsorship, etc. And the most important of all is team work. If there is one loose brick anywhere, your entire building can fall apart, and it takes immense effort to hold all the bricks together. I can proudly say that in these last 4 years, we have seen the worst as well as the best that life could throw at a person, making us stronger as a team The new season is upon us and it is time to leave behind a bunch of great juniors to take over the team. They have learned and grasped as much as possible in the past 3 years and I wish them all the very best for their future season. Lastly, I would like to thank all those who have supported us throughout the years. Thank you for helping build the next generation of good engineers. -Shreyas Sastry V M Vice Captain 2016-17, Team Helios Racing
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Team Helios Racing 2017-18 With each new season comes the excitement of taking up new roles and responsibilities. As the 2018 team takes up the mantle, we gear up for another year, another amazing car, a lot more fun and hopefully a lot more podium finishes. Here is an introduction to the 20172018 team.
SEASON GOALS • • • • •
To secure the top rank in the Indian BAJA events and attain a podium finish in the BAJA SAE USA competition To place first in Acceleration and Suspension and to improve our marks/grades in Manoeuvrability at BAJA SAE USA. To improve our performance at the Sales and Cost presentations To secure the 1st position in the Design event at all Indian BAJA events. To start testing the vehicle 3 months before the first event of the season.
Season Update SEASON TIMELINE
VIRTUAL BAJA 2017 Our team started off the season with the Virtual BAJA SAE round held at Chitkara University in Chandigarh. Five team members participated in the round which consisted of a presentation by the team to a panel of judges followed by a viva session. Out of the fifteen minutes allotted, we elected to spend more time emphasizing the lessons learnt from the last season. In the Q&A session, we were asked questions on weight reduction, master cylinder, shaft materials and so on. The rule book questions that followed were answered correctly by the team, and the overall feedback was positive. We secured the 15th rank in the virtual round with a score of 179.9 out of 200. We will therefore be participating in BAJA SAE India 2018 at Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh.
Season Update Nexus Motorsport National All Terrain Vehicle Championship Our team has also elected to participate in the National All Terrain Vehicle Championship organised by Nexus Motorsport. It is a national level All Terrain Vehicle design and development competition for UG students and will be held in February/March 2018.
Fabrication Phase We have begun fabrication of our car this season with our sponsors and partners for various manufacturing processes. The fabrication phase was kick started with the readying of the fixture table for the chassis after which the components from each subsystem are being fabricated alongside the tube bending and welding of the roll cage. We will be turning to our sponsors for help in fabricating various components for instance CNC machining from CNCIndia and gears and gear shafts from Accuspirals, laser cutting from Genius, water jet machining for brake components from Goodwill and other suspension and powertrain components from Dhankoti and CNCIndia. We hope to have the car track-ready and raring to go by October 1st 2017 to give us ample time for testing and validation.
Sponsorship Update The 2017-18 season started off with a new partnership between THR and Honda Two Wheelers, one of the pioneers of the 2 wheelers segment in India. Meritor Inc. who have been associated with the team since 2014 will be supporting us with all the technical help required and logistics of all the components purchased in the US.
Sponsorship Update and Sponsors speak Accuspirals have been associated with us since 2015 and will be helping us with the manufacturing and procurement of gear material. CNC India have joined our team for the 2017-18 season and they will be helping us with all the CNC machining required for the season. Akshaya Motors and Nandi Toyota the elite Mercedez Benz and Toyota India dealerships, both based in Bengaluru will be supporting our team financially for the 2017-18 season. Wilwood Engineering, Solidworks, Scolarian Racing, Fox Racing Shox and ITP as well as GKP Infracon will be supporting us in the 2017-18 season.
For the first time ever we will have an official Radio Station “Radio Indigo 91.9” partnering with us. Their association with our team will help us reach out to more people during the crowdfunding campaign scheduled in September and to update followers of our position at the event.
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It is impressive to see a student body working professionally in a well-organized structure to achieve their targets. The team’s success is directly related to the effort and rigor that members put in. Having built a successful brand name for themselves this team now aims for a consistent outstanding performance and we at Meritor, believe firmly in their ability to achieve that. From their struggling days to winning accolades and appreciation at national and international forums, their spirit remains undamped in their journey to achieve off-roading laurels. It is also commendable the way the institution supports these kinds of activities at its campus by providing facilities and opportunities for individuals to participate at such events. Sponsors like us lend all possible support but finally it boils down to the real execution of the project. The team and institution have shown real dedication towards the common goal, and have been able to achieve it every time. This definitely brings honour and recognition of excellence to both the sponsors and the team itself. Cheers to all that has been achieved and all the very best for the journey ahead. - Meritor
A Decade of Team Helios Racing Dirt, mud and scraps seem too much, yet 10 years just flew by. Since starting off in 2006, we have paved our way from newbies to the top 10 in the country in 2014. THR15 was our reply to the failures and hardships that we faced over the years when we became the National Champion at BAJA Student India that season. Having filled our trophy case, we decided to do the most obvious thing – build another one. Over the years, we created THR16 that was the second fastest car in the world and THR17 that used smart and efficient engineering to inspire multitudes of other teams. And what better way to celebrate this maverick among journeys than with the people who made it happen. We celebrated a decade of Team Helios blazing a trail on the unforgiving BAJA tracks, this year with the entire Helios family of Alumni, the current team, our faculty advisors, sponsors and all our well wishers. From words of encouragement from our alumni association to the 2018 Captain taking over the mantle, from wisdom and advice from our faculty advisors to reliving the journey with our sponsors and well wishers, we celebrated a decade of the legacy that is Team Helios Racing, our amazing journey and our undying drive to do more and be more. The day culminated with the presentation of tokens of our gratitude to all of our sponsors and well wishers and words of support and encouragement from all of them. With our amazing support system behind us, we look forward to scaling new heights with each coming season.
The Journey so far ...…… 2017……
2016……
2015……
2014……
2012…… 2010……
2007…… 2006……