Mr.Bender needs a new watch .

Today was a bad day . At the end of this day we learned that there were going to be too many mess ups to handle , and definitely too many to blog about .
This is the day the bender stretched 30min into 150 min . First he claimed that he had completed 70% of the work and that the remaining 30% would take another 30min . He says this at 9.30am . Balaji leaves , leaving Arees in the company of Mr.Bender . Sudhir arrives at 10.30 and saves Arees from playing solitary for the 10th time . Mitanshu graces the team with his presence at 11 am . Still no bent pipes . At 11.30 the team decides to have a tea break . They stop at a tea shop , and Mithanshu bites into the first of many vadaais . There after the break is called vadaai break to honour Shu’s new found addiction .On arriving back at Mr.Benders place , he points to two bent rods .
We very pissed . We so pissed that we entertain the idea of making two go karts . The idea lasted till the budget breached 15K . While one of the rods was to be bent the other one had other purposes to serve .
Anyways the disappointment didn’t stop Shu from running home under the pretext of showing his parents some sort of proof that he wasn’t actually spending the money in a fraudulent scheme . He used the seat belt in his car to fasten the bent rods inside the car . Safety first !
We found a work place in the form of Bji’s paper warehouse . Good place , with a lot of fresh air .This was where the bent rods were stored while we went back to search for the bright rods . Owing to a number of factors it took the team the rest of the day to track down a shop which was ready to sell us 1.1 meter of a 30mm diameter EN8 bright rod . With the new bright rods , the team returned to the warehouse with nothing to do but stare at the bent rods .

WE have a bad shaft day

The team regroups at 11am , and heads off to meet Mr.Bender and collect the bent rods . It was on this solemn day the team encountered its first official project problem . Now Mr.Bender it seems had a nasty habit of making ridiculous speculations when it came to delivery dates . Arees swears that Mr.Bender just stopped short of showing the team the finger . In any case , Mr.Bender made it clear that there was no way he could have it done on that day . The new delivery date was set to the 20th .After being handed the first setback the slightly demoralized team arrived in front of a Seth’s kaddai (shop) to buy the rear shaft . After which Mithanshu’s steed , carried the team and the shaft to buy the all important bearings ( which go on the shaft) .
Setback #2 . The bearing guy told us that there were only two standard bearing sizes closest to the shaft dia .Either we chose the 28mm or the 30mm one . To make this decision we called Lathe guy , who told us that we had screwed up again . The shaft we first purchased was a 32mm EN24 rough rod .Rough rod meaning , that the dia of the shaft wasn’t going to be the same throughout the length of the of the rod making it difficult to turn and impossible to obtain a decent finish . We were supposed to purchase the bright rod . Now he tells us ! All this could have been avoided had we followed protocol and bought the bearing before the shaft . The sun goes down on a team with dented hopes .

WE begin

July the 17th , a Friday of great importance to the Team . The day we took the first step towards translating our thoughts to actions , the first day the team wilfully began to shelve out discreet yet significant amounts of money , the day after which there was no turning back .
With a design in hand , the team ( devoid of one of its very important member ) set out towards Nanjappa road hoping to purchase the circular rod which would form the basic structure of the chassis .Nanjappa road to Brooke Bond Road , from Brooke Bond road to the Ganapathy , from Ganapathy to Kattur . It was in Kattur that we finally obtained the 25.4mm , mild steel , cold rolled hollow rod .It was also here that the team was blessed with its first patron , Mama . Mama and Lux had accompanied the team with helpful hearts and bulging pockets . Mama spent Rs 500 to buy the rods . Armed with 2 rods , each 6 meter long , we hailed a Tata Ace ( chinna yannai ) to transport the material . Mama and Arees rode atop the chinna yannai .
Still very fresh into the project business , the team had yet to make all the required acquaintances who would help them ( in exchange for money ) to complete the project . So , the team went to Ashok’s office to enquire about someone who could help in the bending process . Ashok obliged , and we had a bender . Mr.Bender , says that he’ll have the rod bent and ready by the next day . A good day all in all .

CAD model of chassis

Here is the first pictures of the CAD model of the chassis design. The model was designed by our very own cad expert, balaji. The model was created in Pro/E.

We meet the inspiration

Qualifying day for the UCAL Championship fell on the 2nd of July . The Team heads out to Kari Speedway to meet up with a , Mr.Rashid ( the event manager ) , who may be able to arrange for the wheels and the rims for the go kart . The slightly inebriated team along with Mama take a while to arrange a meet with Mr.Rashid . After explaining to him our predicament he says that there was only one solution , and his name was Mr.Akbar Ebrahim . Mr.Ebrahim was one of the earliest in India who saw potential in the karting as a stepping stone to the higher forms of racing .
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2003/09/04/stories/2003090400860400.htm .

Now Mr.Ebrahim was present at the speedway to oversee the activities going on . After spending more than an hour in a queue , the overjoyed team meet Mr.Ebrahim and tell him the plans for the kart . Most will say that the only reason we finally made up our minds to begin building the kart was because of what Mr.AE said on that day . He was thoroughly impressed , and said that what we were doing was most certainly inspiring . “Drop the ABS plan for now “ he said , because it wouldn’t have much of an effect during the race . On the other hand he asked us to focus on the paddle shift gear . He revealed that his team was also working on a similar initiative, the design of which he wasn’t going to reveal ( so that our design wouldn’t be influenced by it ) . To solve our problem about the kart parts , he said that on a future date he was willing to take apart an existing kart to give us the parts we were finding difficult to obtain . Imagine that ! We leave Mr.AE with his contact number promising to contact him so as to set up our next meeting . The meeting never took place ,but we went ahead to build the kart anyway .
In the middle of all this , Bji didn’t qualify for the main race , Shu had fun on one of those simulated two wheeler training bikes ( which he couldn’t drive until the gears were set to automatic ) and everyone saw a couple of hot Chinese ladies who they couldn’t stop ogling at . Without question , one of the better days since the initial plan was conceived .