The Baja SAE event was not cancelled this year, the competition will go on!

Baja SAE is a Collegiate Design Series (CDS) event in which students design a single-seat, all-terrain, sporting vehicle whose driver is contained within the frame of the vehicle. This vehicle is basically a prototype for a production recreational vehicle. Teams from all over the world design their Baja cars and compete at the end of the year to see which design performs the best. In addition, several additional events also measure the reproducibility and manufacturability of these cars to see how feasible they would be in the buyer's market.

The event will be partially virtual and partially in person, assuming all goes well. The events have been split into two groups: static and dynamic events. The static events include a business presentation, a design presentation, a design report, and a cost report. These events will be hosted virtually throughout March and April. Teams can participate in these events independently from the dynamic events, however YSU Penguin Baja Racing is participating in both types of events this year! After the static events conclude, the dynamic events will be held in person with social distancing and PPE protocol in place throughout April and May. These events include an acceleration event, a hill climb event, a maneuverability event, a suspension event, and finally a 4-hour long endurance race where all the teams race to complete laps around a course! Hopefully, all groups will be able to participate in these dynamic events in person!

With the event being virtual, it will make things a little harder to watch and participate outside of the actual team members presenting, as Baja SAE has chosen to limit attendance in virtual rooms due to the possibility of connectivity problems. There will probably be some issues with communication throughout the event. Just the nature of virtual presentations will present newer issues for the presenters, as they will have to make their points as clear as possible since they won't be able to physically demonstrate the concepts through the virtual room.

The Baja team is looking forward to learning from past competition experiences to improve their national rankings. Click here to read about how the team performed last year!