The Co-Founder's Piece - By Rushabh Mehta

In our SE and TE, Calvin and I were working on a hybrid rocket motor, when an amazing opportunity to start this team was presented by then HoD Dr. Lakade and then R&D coordinator (Mech. Dept.) Dr. Anindita Roy. We took up the opportunity and started recruitment. In 4 days we were a 30+ strong team with management modeled on our sister teams in PCCoE Motorsports. We aimed for the National Solar Vehicle Challenge(NSVC) the same academic year, with its virtual scheduled 28 days later. We went on to win this with sheer grit and determination. I took the responsibility of designing the front wheel assembly, steering system and vehicle dynamics. Which was exactly what the steering team delivered under my leadership.

Starting this team was a very bumpy ride with lots of variables like management, team morale, technical and financial constraints for us to optimize. Setting up a new institution with a functioning management and executives was very interesting. Till date, it remains one of my best achievements. The vision Calvin and I had for the team was to be enablers of innovation in clean mobility. NSVC, ESVC or WSC are just the platform/means for promotion and benchmarking our expertise and innovation. I am glad that Team Solarium since inception understands that it is working on an engineering project and not a science project and tries to optimize towards performance and costs. Being part of the Green Hills Group, Pune myself, I appreciate the green initiatives taken up by the team.

The team’s achievements make me super proud. I appreciate all the hard work put in by all the members so far for bringing the team national recognition. I am confident the future teams to follow will be more than capable and passionate in filling these shoes. I wish all the members all the best! Godspeed Invictus!