Deputy chief minister Sudhir Mahto (right) poses beside the car made by students of BIT. Picture by Manik Bose

Ranchi, July 6: Will Lewis Hamilton replace his McLaren-Mercedes with an FS-07 this weekend?

Well, the leading F1 driver this season may not try it on the Silverstone as part of the British Grand Prix tomorrow, but 11 young techies at BIT, Mesra, are waiting for a dream debut of two F1 cars — FS-07 and Spowdy — developed by them.

The cars will take part at the “F1 students’ race” at the same venue starting July 12. The team of 11 from the BIT — including students from mechanical, electronics and civil engineering branches — will compete with 150 others from across the world at the five-day race.

The enthusiastic members of the team were present along with the final model of FS-07 at Vikram Motors nera Piska More today. However, Spowdy, although ready, was not put on display.

Before the final showdown at Silverstone, about 130km north of London, the cars — developed at Rs 11 lakh in total — have got rave reviews by the European Design Centre, Tata Motors, TVS and Hindustan Motors.

The 600cc cars will be packed tomorrow and reach Calcutta en route to London.

Deputy chief minister Sudhir Mahto, present at the exhibition, expressed his happiness over the cars and also said that all necessary support would be given to such students.

Ankur Agarwal, a final-year student of electronic and communication and a team member, said: “We have got the honour to represent our country at global level. This has been made possible due to efforts by our institute as well as by the state government — our major sponsors,” Agarwal said.

They have been practising in different city localities for the past few months and after reaching London they will practise for four to five hours before the final show.

The cars, added Ankur, made from parts bought from Chennai, Delhi, Calcutta, Ranchi and the US. “Based on the advance steering mechanism, the cars can turn and tilt like a bike at lightning speed. The qualities of both cars are that they are cost-effective, eco-friendly, less fuel consumption with enhanced safety,” he added.