Remote-controlled cars are a commodity that every young petrolhead feverishly lusted after in the past. Some still consider collecting these powered dinkies to be a serious hobby, but for most, at the end of the day, it is just another medium of amusement for rich kids. Now though, Red Bull has come up with a solution for budding students who wouldn't really spend half their savings to satisfy their RC cravings. Now, all you need to make your own RC car is an empty can of Red Bull.

With the introduction of the Red Bull Racing Can tournament, college students can now experience the joys of racing first-hand without burning a hole in their wallets. What Red Bull does, is it visits colleges, conducts elimination rounds for students, and then, choosing a total of 24 teams from colleges all across the city, supplies all of them with the same motor-equipped chassis to ensure a level playing field. The challenge here for the teams is creating the car's body.

Teams are only allowed to use Red Bull cans to construct the bodyshell of the racer, and that is where these cars need to stand out. It's not just the race results that decide the winner. The idea and effort that have gone into designing the car's structure and also, the design are factors that make a difference too. The can opener, for example, can be used to make anything ranging from a set of headlights to ORVMs, and that brings bonus points that could help you move up the grid. The brief then, is simple. Grab a Red Bull can, empty the contents, get cracking with the tools and be the Giorgetto Giugiaro-cum-Felipe Massa that you’ve always wanted to be.

Red Bull has started conducting qualifying rounds in major Indian cities like Pune, Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, with the national finals slated to take place in Mumbai by the end of October. The team that wins the national finals goes to Sao Paolo in Brazil during the Brazilian F1 GP in November to contest the global finals. Piqued as I was, I just had to go see what this was all about at the Mumbai Qualifying round.

The mobile racetrack, spread out over a couple of feet, would witness three laps per race. Following the regulation elimination rounds were the frantic quarters and semis (SF1 being particularly exciting, what with every car attaining 1st place briefly within a span of three laps) and in the final, Team Flying Pistons from St.Andrews College emerged victorious. Having worked on their car for two days, the team now gets some more time to better their car and bring it up to fighting-fit shape before the national finals in a month's time.

We had a great time out there, and there are a lot of exciting moments that we're sharing in this gallery. All you need to do is keep clicking 'Next Page'...