IIT Students Build Car To Promote Safe Racing — Sprints From 0-60km/h In 6 Seconds

Named 'Tachyon' after the hypothetical concept of particles that move faster than light, the fabrication of the car, involved a team of 27 mechanical engineering students who too part in the designing and manufacturing process that began in October 2015.

A 600cc petrol engine powers the IIT students' car and can sprint from 0-60km/h in 6 seconds with a top speed of 110-120 km/h.

Nihar Bharadwaj, one of the members of the team, said, "There is no culture of Formula racing in India. Most of the people enthusiastic about racing take to the streets. So, we wanted to promote a weekend culture of racing in a safe environment,"

He further added that the primary motive was to learn engineering aspects and ended up developing the car. Tachyon racing car recently took the second spot in a category of the Formula Bharat engineering design event held in Coimbatore.

"The racing event we went to mostly focuses on the ability to corner and take sharp turns. For that, we need lower speed but significant acceleration and pick-up so we modified our transmission accordingly," added Bhardwaj.