SAE Baja Competition

SAE Baja team attended the competition at El Paso, Texas during April 24

to April 27 Since it was a long drive (3100 km), team left Waterloo on April 18and arrived there on April 23. They are currently on the way back (Louisiana yesterday). 11 members including myself (4 ME 4B, 2 MTE 3B, 1 ME 2A, 1 ME 1A, 1 Nano 1B, 1 Master, 1 Professor) attended. They even took exams (ME 526 and NE 115) there under my proctoring.

Briefly, it was a fantastic and successful event. we are ranked 32 out of 96 teams (5 Canadian: ETS, McGill, Queen’s, Sherbrooke, Laval, Waterloo). Considering we have very little time to test the car (due to weather and tight schedule), it was an excellent achievement. Also the team wanted to share the exciting experience with all members rather than to have a better ranking, so they gave everybody a chance to drive. In the endurance event (driving on extreme terrain course for 4 hours), they changed the driver at every 3 laps. Each change loses more than a half lab, so other teams change the drivers only when it should be refueled (usually around 10 labs).

       

(Team Fixing Technical Problems)           (Rolled Over - Waterloo)

Regardless, our car survived the endurance race as 27^th. Since we had some problem in the gear box (bought used one from Kijiji and modified), we failed in maneuverability event, but did good in other events (14^th in hill climbing , 35^th in suspension, ? in acceleration).

Hill Climbing

Suspension

Maneuverability

I believe that it was truly an outstanding design project and hands-on experience to all team members. They not only design and build, but verify and compare their design through the competition. Also they learn team work, project management and financing (fund raising).

Go Go!!  Waterloo: Slow and Steady wins the race!