Ankit Solanki

Being part of a winning team has always come naturally to Ankit Solanki. Since 2014, when he was an 18-year-old university student, Bitta – as his friends call him – has been part of three engineering teams involved in the SAE competitions, which bring together thousands of aspiring young engineers from universities around the world.

After a few ‘false starts’, 2019 proved to be a defining year, as all of Bitta’s past and present teams gained podium finishes. Team Blackhawks finished 3rd at the ATV Championship, RMIT Racing finished 2nd in endurance at SAE-Australasia, and GTU Motorsports were crowned champions of the hotly-contested Formula Bharat – the first Indian team to gain a top 50 ranking globally.

In January 2021, Bitta became part of another winning team when he joined Savic Motorcycles as their Design Engineer. Like his winning roles at SAE, Bitta’s main focus at Savic involves refining and optimising the design and integrity of key departments of the C-Series – including the chassis, brakes and vehicle dynamics – as well as managing relationships with their manufacturing suppliers.