India's first Formula Student racing female driver, Sanjana Dhulla, K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering, won 3rd place in acceleration at the Formula Bharat competition

Date

2nd February 2018

Area of Interset

Technology

Institution(s)

K J Somaiya College of Nursing

India's first student Formula racing female driver, Sanjana Dhulla, K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering, won the 3rd place in acceleration at the Formula Bharat competition. She was the only female driver amongst 200+ drivers across  90 teams, She is part of the Orion Team which consists of students from Mechanical, Electronics and Computer Sc. branches ranging from S.Y. to L.Y. of engineering. The team has five female members Shreya Rajmane, Sanjana Dhulla, Ketki Sanghai, Kopal Gangrade, Nishi Bhemani handling various departments from suspension, electronics and composites departments. 
Orion Racing India, the Formula student team from K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering, stood 1st in the overall ranking at recently concluded Formula Bharat 2018 held at the Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore. The team won the event with its Combustion Vehicle Prototype and Electric Vehicle Design. It was the first time that the team developed an Electric Vehicle design, irrespective of their experience with Combustion Vehicles only since last ten years. 
The results by category per individual events are as follows:
Combustion vehicle
- Engineering design: 2nd place
- Business plan: 4th place
- Endurance: 1st place
- Acceleration: 3rd place
- Autocross: 3rd place
- Best driver: Parth Mehta
Electric vehicle
- Cost and sustainability: 2nd place
- Engineering design: 3rd place
- Business plan: 4th place
- Overall (Unofficial): 1st Place
General
- Cleanest pit award 
- Most diligent team award 
Formula Bharat is a student level engineering design competition where participants from various universities conceptualise, design, manufacture and tests a Formula1 prototype which is judged by various industry professionals.
“The contribution of the girls to the success of the team is unmatchable. Such examples of smart brains and equal opportunities prove the mettle of women in the motorsport industry”, says Dr. Shubha Pandit, Principal K.J Somaiya College of Engineering. 
Sanjana Dhulla student of K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering, the first female driver, said “Developing the electrical vehicle design was a challenge as it was a new category featured by Formula Bharat 2018. I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to be considered as the driver for the competition; this just shows the faith put in by professors and teammates. I am glad that I made my college proud.”
With a promising start to the year, the team is now working on developing their next combustion prototype (Bellatrix) to compete at Formula Student East, which shall be held in Hungary from 18th - 22nd July 2018.
 
About Somaiya Vidyavihar: (www.somaiya.edu)
Padmabhushan Karamshi Jethabhai Somaiya founded Somaiya Vidyavihar an education trust in 1959, to provide quality holistic education. It was founded on the belief that, education is an important pillar of nation building with the power to change lives, and education must innovate to encourage holistic development of youth. It is known as much for its Science, Technology, Engineering, Management, Social Sciences and Commerce programs, as for its programs for academic studies in various faiths and cultures of India.

Somaiya Vidyavihar fosters a start-up ecosystem that encourages multi-disciplinary collaboration, accelerates innovation, and cultivates the next generation of start-up leaders. 

Somaiya Vidyavihar encompasses 34 institutions, with more than 39,000 students and 1,500 faculty. Its main campus is in Mumbai, but Somaiya Vidyavihar also operates six schools in rural India i.e. in Dahanu, Sakarwadi, Laxmiwadi, Kopargaon, Sameerwadi, Kutch, Bagalkot and Bhopal.