he IIT Bombay Racing team has earned a lot of positive feedback for their Formula race cars. The Agni, Prithvi and all-electric Evo series race cars have been the recent ones that has caught the fancy of many. Backed by eight years of experience in developing Formula one cars, the team has come up with their latest edition of an all-electric race car, called the Orca.
The newly developed Orca electric race car will participate in the Formula Student competition due to be held in the UK in July. Powered by a 389-volt battery pack, the car is capable of attaining a maximum speed of 145kph and is expected to clock a 0 to 100 kmph in just 3.47 seconds. The Orca race car weighs a mere 242kgs, making it lighter in comparison to last year’s Evo 4.0 which weighed 302kgs.
The steel tube spaceframe chassis and carbon-fibre bodyworks have been built in-house. The suspension and steering geometry has been designed based on lap time simulations run on an improved full-car model. Sometime by next year, the team expects to develop carbon-fibre monocoque, for which they have been working on various lay ups. The Orca project is stated to have received support from NRB Bearings, Tata Motors and Ceat Tyres. The overall project cost reportedly stands at Rs 45 lakh.
