Team KSHATRIYA

Newsletter
Greetings to All!!!

On behalf of Team Kshatriya, I take extreme

pleasure in presenting before you the first
edition of “Kshatriya Newsletter”. In this
edition we have started with the history &
origin of the team, how over the years , the
team has become what it is today. We have
touched on our past competitions as well as
our future goals. Then further, we have written
about the key areas we have been working on this time, the recent developments & have
concluded with the design and manufacturing of the Chassis, the most important part of any
vehicle.

The basic motive of presenting this newsletter is to reach out to all other teams, students who
have interest in the automobile and to all our fans and well wishers. We shall try to come out
with a newsletter every month and make it as informative as possible thereby making the
process look very transparent.

The journey so far has not been a cakewalk. We have struggled, we have faltered but true to
the undying spirit of Kshatriya, we have fought back. I would like to take this opportunity to
thank a few people without whose support we would not have been where we are; Mr. Sekar
Vishvanathan (Vice President – University Affairs), Dr. A. Senthil Kumar (Director-SMBS), Dr. P.
Kuppan (Program Manager – B.Tech. Mech.), Dr. M. Anthony Xavior (Team Faculty Advisor),
Prof M. Gokul Kumar (Founder – Team Kshatriya), Prof C.D. Naiju (SAE-VIT Faculty
Coordinator) and last but not the least, my teammates (the true warriors), you guys have
been truly fantastic. Also, a special note of thanks to all our seniors for guiding us over the
years and helping us improvise.

We are open to any feedback/suggestions. Please feel free to write to us at

team.kshatriya@gmail.com, you can also visit our website www.teamkshatriya.com or
follow us on facebook.com/teamkshatriya. Hope you have a delightful reading experience.

Vivek Agarwal
Team leader
 What is team Kshatriya?
Have you ever imagined making your dream off-
road car in real life and with you in the driver’s
seat? To put it in a nutshell this is what we do. We
make all terrain, real-life race cars which are able to
compete with other similar cars in the prestigious
Baja competition organised by SAE.
KSHATRIYA is the official BAJA SAE India Team from
VIT University. It was all started in the year 2006, by
B.Tech. Mechanical Engineering students, who had
in common amongst them a will, a will to perform,
a will to prove their technical aptitude, and a will to
win.

With these objectives in mind team Kshatriya was formed. The founding warriors were Archit Singh,
Prashant Sethi, Sunny Sapra, Anubhav Nanda, Piyush Soni, Ankit Singhal led by their fearless leader
Manpreet Singh Chaddha, under the dynamic guidance of Mr. Gokul Kumar.
Work Methodology
The most characteristic feature that sets the team apart
from other college teams is its professionalism. The
Hard Work
environment that is created in the workshop is charged
with enthusiasm. The team members are fully committed
to their tasks and are ready to go through extreme
Passion inconveniences to make sure the set targets are met on
time. The team is sub divided into the main systems of
Commitment the car, namely; Transmission, Suspension, Brakes and
CAD. Proper distribution of the work greatly reduces the
development time and amplifies the efficiency of the
team.
The team is dedicated to building a competitive car, but
the same is not achieved by sacrificing the college
Past Competitions studies.

2007 BAJA USA - Rochester

2007 BAJA India
2009 BAJA India
2009 BAJA South Africa

Future Competitions
2011 January - India
2011 June - USA
The Team
After the completion of the 2009 Baja SAE India
competition, the legacy was carried on by Nikhil
Goyal, Rajesh Kallur, Vishal Jalan, and Anand
Kumar under the leadership of Vivek Agarwal.
The remaining team was selected through a
rigorous selection procedure testing the
candidates on analytical, creativity and general
automotive knowledge. The present team
consists of 19 members belonging to
mechanical, mechanical & energy and electrical
engineering.
Non-
Technical The Work is divided amongst the Team Members to ensure
Technical
maximum efficiency with minimum delays. Every member
Vehicle
Sponsorship
of the team plays an important role in the technical part of
Dynamics
the project, in addition to that, he also has a non-technical
department assigned to him to ensure all the work like
Driveline
Dynamics
Finance purchasing, finances, marketing , inventory , public
relations have adequate work force.
CAD/ANALYSIS Inventory This time a special department “GREEN TECHNOLOGY “ has
been created in line with the theme of “ GO GREEN “. The
work of this department is to suggest emission control
Brakes Logistics
methods and see to its practical feasibility and
implementation. Each department has a department head
Electrical Purchasing who is answerable to the team leader who in turn has to
report the state of affairs to the faculty advisor.
Green
Technology

Key Areas
From the experience gained in past competitions, the
team is working on improving certain aspects as well
as incorporating some new ones. Some of the key
areas on which the team has been working this time
are:
Paddle shifters
Gear Assist Change
Crumple Zone
Discreet In-Line Gear shifting
Use of Eco Fibres
Website and Team Newsletters
Media relations
Our Aim - BAJA SAE India 2011
Every year over 80 collegiate teams from
across the nation design, build, and compete in
the Baja SAE competition. These small off road
vehicles must be able to survive a multitude of
terrain, including mud, large rocks, and water.
All vehicles are restricted to using an eleven-
horsepower engine, 340cc. Thus, the focus of
the competition is on the chassis and
suspension design.

The challenge for the student teams is not Only

to design and construct a reliable race vehicle
that can manoeuvre a variety of off-road
obstacles, but to keep costs to a minimum, as
well as minimizing the maintenance and care.

The cars are judged based on design and innovation, as well as events that test the real world
functionality of these vehicles. While the functionality of the vehicles is critical, the vehicles must
also follow strict safety and cost regulations further increasing the competitiveness of the events.
The whole design-fabrication-testing process has to be followed by a plan to manufacture 4000
units of the prototype per year. This way the participants are encouraged to design cars which are
easy to manufacture as well, which helps them evolve into better engineers.

Virtual Baja 2011

The first round of Baja SAE India 2011 took place at New “For me you are the
Delhi in the first week of July 2010. The round, also called
the ‘Virtual Baja 2010’, was to assess the work done by the
winning team, the best
interested teams so far and to make sure only the best presentation of this hall.”
make it to the final round, which will be taking place at
-Vinod Kulkarni
Pithampur in January 2011. A total of 197(!) teams took
part in Virtual Baja 2010. Out of these 80 were shortlisted E & D Head
for the final round. Team Kshatriya’s performance was Fiat India
highly impressive in the eyes of the judges;

Apart from that we adapted a green logo, as per the theme

of Baja SAE India 2011, for the Vajra-340, it was unveiled at
New Delhi.

After a very successful Virtual Baja at New Delhi, the Team

is now very motivated to put forward their very best at
Pithampur in January.
Recent Developments
Apparel Sponsorship
The leading sportswear and equipment brand: Head® has agreed to
sponsor the apparel for the Team. For the same, it has given each
member 2 t-shirts, printed with the logos of the sponsors of the
Team. Such gestures by the Sponsors give us the motivation to perform the way we do.

New in Kshatriya
To stay ahead in any field, developments and improvisations need to be done. That is
the theory that we follow. The developments need not be confined to technical aspects
only, they can be in any part of the Project.

Marketing is the area we are focussing on this year. The need for the same was felt when
we met people in the university who had no idea about the project. Given the amount of
effort that we put in, it came as an unpleasant poke. What this meant was that many
people, who could have been very useful for us, had no idea of our existence. It was then
that we decided to make sure that the students of our university know how we work and
what we do.

A number of new programs were launched in the team:

To begin with was the launch of the

team Website. This allowed us to have
a common platform from where we
can address the general public. The
website was launched by the Director
of SMBS, Dr. A. Senthil Kumar and the
Director of Students’ Welfare, Dr. K.
Chidambram.
Newsletter: This was a part of the
effort to keep the students of the
university updated on our work done so far and our results in the competitions.
Introductory Sessions with juniors have been organised to make sure that they all
know about the team and the prospective recruits choose the correct team.

Dedicated Workshop for the Team: KSHATRIYA thanks the VIT management for
understanding our needs and giving us the so required dedicated workshop for making
the car in a more professional manner. The workshop will have all the latest
manufacturing and welding equipment that we need.
The Chassis
The chassis has the same role as the skeleton has in our bodies. The vehicle is designed in
such a way that all its systems are fully enclosed and protected by the roll-cage. As in other
special utility vehicles, the chassis and the roll-cage of our vehicle are the same; they are
based on the space-frame design methodology. This ensures that in case the car rolls over, all
its subsystems are protected by the roll-cage and the driver can escape from the crash
unharmed. This is a very important parameter which has to be kept in mind while the design
optimisation of the roll-cage is in progress.

Given underneath is a quick overview if the design methodology followed in the

designing/fabrication of the roll-cage:

Design Methodology

SOLID MODELLING DESIGN

ESTABLISH PILOT DESIGN PVC PROTOTYPE OPTIMIZATION
TARGET SPECS (SOLIDWORKS®) (ANSYS®)

Manufacturing of the
Roll-Cage