Greater Noida: Galgotias University hosted the opening of the Formula Imperial & Indian Karting Race 2026 (IKR-2026), bringing together 40 teams from 37 engineering institutions across 14 states in a national-level competition in automotive design, electric mobility and sustainable transportation.
Organised by the Imperial Society of Innovative Engineers (ISIEINDIA) and co-organised by Galgotias University, the event features entries across the IKR Go-Kart and Formula Imperial categories. Students design, build and race their own vehicles, applying classroom learning to real engineering problems and competing against peers from leading technical institutions.
Participating institutions include IIT Roorkee, NIT Warangal, NIT Calicut, NIT Raipur, Jadavpur University, VIT, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, KIIT and Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology. Teams have travelled from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Kerala, Haryana, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
Representatives from the MSME Chamber of Commerce, JK Tyre Motorsports, Liqui Moly and IFEVA attended the inauguration and spoke with students about emerging technologies, industry expectations and entrepreneurship.
Commenting on the event, Dr Dhruv Galgotia, Chief Executive Officer, Galgotias University, said, “Every vehicle on this track was designed, built and tested by students. That is the kind of engineering education industry is asking for, and IKR-2026 puts 40 teams through it under real competitive pressure.”
The teams now move into the competitive stages of IKR-2026, where judges will evaluate their vehicles on design, engineering decisions, innovation and teamwork in an industry-oriented format.
