July 31,
2006
The Baja challenge
A team of mechanical engineering students from Rochester traveled to southern Wisconsin in May to test their skills against teams from 140 colleges and universities across the United States, Canada, South America, and Korea during the 2006 Society of Automotive Engineers Mini-Baja Midwest Competition. Students tackle a hands-on engineering problem by designing and building an off-road vehicle that can stand up to the demands of an all-terrain endurance challenge.
Scott Russell, a senior technical associate in the mechanical engineering department, was an advisor to the 12-member team. "The students spent a good portion of their extracurricular time during the school year in the department's mini-baja shop. . . . The car, number 132, was effectively built from the ground up with students working out key issues around cockpit design, drive train, braking system, shocks and suspension, tire selection, and steering."
The car was judged in 12 categories during the three-day event, and Russell reports it "proved to be a worthy and rugged design. Its lightweight frame and robust handling ability allowed it to do quite well during almost four hours of racing on the main track." The department has participated in the competition for the past 20 years and plans to return in 2007.
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