All-girl team drives to the front

CHANDIGARH: They had the drive to make a mark in an otherwise male-dominated field. A group of 10 girls from Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology, who presented a concept all-terrain vehicle at the Relio Quick Auto Mall 2010, are said to be the only such team in Asia to have done so.
Showcasing their creation, the girls won first prize after beating seven other engineering college teams in a contest organized as part of the event.
Calling it their passion to prove that girls were in no way behind boys, the team's members had opted to study mechanical automobile engineering at the time of taking admission in their college.
'We never wanted to be like other girls sitting in front of computers all day. We wanted to do something to prove our worth,' said Komal Sethi, the team's captain.
'Our seniors used to work on concept vehicles and that motivated us. So we decided to make our own ATV,' said Sethi, who added that she was not aware of the workings of a normal vehicle at the time she took up the challenge.
The ATV, named El-Conquistador 2010, was the result of eight months of hard work starting from scratch and incorporating ideas and innovations needed to make a non-industrial design.
'The vehicle was also approved by technical committee of Baja Asia 2010, which is an intercollegiate design competition for building a prototype of a rugged single-seater, off-road, recreational vehicle,' Sethi added.
Sharing their experience of designing the ATV, the team's members said that initially there was a feeling that other colleges with boys in their groups would give them tough competition. 'However, the hard work made us stand apart from the other teams at the recent SAE Baja India competition 2010 held in Indore this January, where the team won a prize of Rs 1 lakh under Chairman's Award category,' said another member of the team, Taru Singhal.
The girls are further looking at the participating in a similar competition in South Africa in October.