I stood there on the asphalt spellbound… All the noise in the background seemed to fade away. I slowly bent down and touched the asphalt with my hands to feel it. The moment I touched it, I felt my heart suddenly pumping out more blood, I could feel the warmth of the blood flowing through my arteries. “ The Formidable Sebastian Vettel wins in India! Wins in 2013 to become a 4 time World Champion “ played in my mind, and I just couldn’t believe at that moment that I was standing on that exact piece of land where the legend won this 4th consecutive title! That my friends, that very moment right there was a core memory formed!
This journey began when I joined my company GT Tuners. Along with building rally cars, and truck bodies and carrying our various automotive R&D projects, GT Tuners also support the official Formula Student event organized by SAE India by taking care of the dynamic events. I have been part of formula student since my college days, but due to lack of funds, we could never make it to SAE SUPRA as participants. Fast forward to 2022, since I had worked extensively on the Formula student project, I was allowed to be a part of SAE SUPRA, not as a participant, but rather as a judge! I was part of the Technical Inspection team that made sure that all the cars followed the rules laid out by the organizers as well as redeemed it safe to be taken out on track. Special emphasis has to be given to the driver’s safety as undergrad college students build these cars. Hence, a technical inspector needs to have hawk eyes in detecting any possible cause of concern in the way the cars have been built.
I was pretty excited to be a part of SAE SUPRA 2022, for 2 reasons; The first was obviously because it takes place in Buddh International Circuit, and the second because I, just being a 23 year would share tables with some of the most amazing, intelligent Engineers, Businessmen from various fields across the country. This was a golden opportunity and an experience that very few people get to experience. The stories they bring with them, the simplest of ways they explain a complex issue to students, and every single one of them is so down to earth!! if I was just completely lost there. Just spending a few days with them completely changed my mind and the way I look at things.
After 3 days of technical inspection, I finally got to go onto the track. Since I was the judge and was also co-ordinating for the stunt show, I had access to the main straight and the pit area. This was my moment! I opened the gate for the first time and jumped onto the asphalt. The moment I did that, they played the F1 theme song for testing the speakers. OH MY GOD!! It literally gave me goosebumps and I stood there on the asphalt spellbound…