Excelsior Sports Correspondent
![SMVDU team posing for a group photograph during a racing event at Indore in MP.](http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/page1413-300x225.jpg)
KATRA, Mar 17: A Team of 24 students from School of Mechanical Engineering, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), which had successfully designed and fabricated an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) led by Varun Dutta (Assistant Prof) and Mir Irfan-Ul-Haq (Assistant Prof) participated in the international racing event SAE BAJA 2015 at Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
Team Mechanix SMVDU has the distinction of being the only team from the State of J&K to participate in International BAJA SAE 2015 event at National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRIP) facility, Pitampore Indore (M.P).
The event involves showcase of teams of undergraduate engineering students, where the design and fabrication skills are assessed at a common platform every year globally by the Society of Automotive Engineers, USA.
SAE BAJA originated in the year 1976 (Mini – BAJA), at University of Carolina, USA. Since then, the event has spanned across six countries – USA, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Korea and India.
Earlier, the Team Mechanix qualified the virtual round (Phase-I) and in Phase-II the ATV designed and fabricated by the team cleared all the rounds which include Brake test, Safety test and Engine test. The overall design as well the performance of the vehicle was appreciated by various auto experts from and among the panelists including M&M, John Deer, Bosch,Volvo, etc. The team was also felicitated for their holistic efforts and design by Dr. Pawan Goenka (CEO, Mahindra and Mahindra) for being the only team hailing from a remote location of the Country. Guneet Singh,a team member of Team Mechanix who was earlier selected as an anchor for SAE BAJA 2015 carried out the stage proceedings in the presence of an audience of nearly 3000 participants.
Dean Faculty of Engineering, Prof V Verma and Director School of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Ankush Anand congratulated the team for their success and the faculty coordinators as well as the director thanked the Vice Chancellor, SMVDU, Prof S K Jain as well as Registrar SMVD University, Ajay Khajuria for their wholehearted support.