Bangalore: It's not marks that help our students find jobs. Participating in competitions with scope for practical application adds tremendous credibility, says Dr RS Kulkarni, faculty member, RV College of Engineering, a fact that any engineer will vouch for. But while Bangalore has the infrastructure to steer the way for many technical innovations, aspiring mechanical engineers bemoan that despite having the potential to become an automotive hub, the city lacks necessary amenities, including a race track for automotive expansion. Nevertheless, some of the city's engineering institutions are now reaching out to help their students thanks to Baja (pronounced ba-ha). An organisation founded in the University of South Carolina in 1976, Baja aids budding engineers showcase their potential in designing and car manufacturing by holding racing and car-building competitions. Today, BajaSAE India, which started in 2006 after student teams from colleges like RVCE won Baja's international competitions, holds regular contests in the country for member students by giving them a challenging project that involves automotive design, engineering, planning and manufacturing. Today colleges like Bangalore Institute of Technology (BIT) and Jain University of Engineering have their own teams taking part and winning in BajaSAE contests. "Regular classes became very boring and monotonous, so we came up with an idea to do something out of the box. We formed a group Stratos and built a car," says Mokshita Gowda, a final year mechanical student at BIT. Gowda is the design head of Stratos, which comprises of 20 young aspiring engineers from BIT. Winning these contests not only spurs innovation but also assists students in getting placed in some of the best automotive companies. Gowda, for instance, has bagged a job with Team Pacer Yamaha. The only deterrent to students' dreams seems to be the fact that Bangalore doesn't have a race track, necessitating travel to Chennai or Coimbatore to test their cars.