The power of CAN

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It was a boisterous late afternoon at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, with racing cars ready to zoom on the track. The cars were special — miniature, driverless and made of cola cans. “The Red Bull Racing Can Contest is a college racing series.

The global event looks at the best attempt made by a student on the body of the vehicle, aerodynamics and design,” says Jatin Singh, a participant and student of the School of Planning and Archi-tecture.
In its second year, the annual competition challenges both a car maker’s genius and a petrolhead’s nerves, compelling participants to act as racers and pit crews. The chassis of a car is provided but the contestant needs to design the top cover. His inspiration could come from a bull to a shark to any favourite model from the stables of Ferrari or Renault. Points are awarded based on one’s creativity and how cool your mates think your design is. The points could determine the starting position on the grid for the team, which is crucial. “The best part of the deal is that any student can make and upload his designs. A car is appealing to any man, and one need not be an engineer to be here,” says Abhishek Verma, first year BBS student, SSCBS College, Delhi University.
This year, the competition started in Pune and has so far travelled all over India. The national finals take place this month in Mumbai. The winning team of the national finals will then represent India at the global finals during the Braz-ilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo. The Delhi winners, Akshay Chauhan and Karman Singh of third year IT, USIT, GGSIPU, are thrilled to represent Delhi in Mumbai with their car. “Armoured is made of four cans and is fully loaded to take any competition head on. The car is heavy, but is apt for the racing track,” says Singh about their first stint with racing cars and F1.
Armoured defeated Metal Mayhem created by the students of the Dronacharya College of Eng-ineering, Gur-gaon. Surya Sharma and Prateek Wadhwa thank their respective internships at Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra that have helped them come so far. “Nothing beats the prototype experience. It helps one live the technology and create something meaningful out of it. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose,” says Sharma, whose car was inspired by a jeep, F1 car and a dragster.