What can you tell me about Baja?

The Project and the Team

The Baja league is hosted by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The purpose of the team is to get students “hands-on” experience with real life situations. The project is taken into consideration as an actual product to market into the public. The students must establish a budget, seek funding, design a car, manufacture the car and test the project.

Students will build communication, management, and leadership skills as a team member. Team members may handle anything from the business to the engineering portion of the project. Here the student is able hone their skills and become a professional.

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The Competitions

SAE hosts three national and several international races.

The three national are West, Midwest, and East. Each competition has an established series of dynamic events. These events may be: acceleration, sled pull, maneuverability, and a four hour endurance race. However, each competition also hosts a specialty event.

West—The west competition’s specialty event is a rock crawl. The driver must maneuver the car through a series of plotted trails along gigantic boulders as seen on television with professional rock crawling.

Midwest—The Midwest is a general competition. There are no specialty events to distinguish itself from the other two competitions. However, since this may appear as the “easiest” competition, there are nearly 140 teams from around the world competing at once.

East—The East competition is proclaimed the most difficult. The specialty event is to make the team’s vehicle amphibious. The car must float in water and navigate throughout water obstacles.

Photos courtesy of SAE.org

SAE also hosts competitions all over the world. A few to name are Mexico, Brazil, South Korea, and South Africa.

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The Catch

It may seem like an easy project, but not quite.

All teams have one thing in common—the engine. The rules for the competition are for all teams to use a specific 10 horsepower Briggs & Stratton engine. Any modifications to the engine are prohibited.

Photo's courtesy of BriggsandStratton.com

Once you seen these cars in action, you'll think twice before you snicker at 10 HP! Some reach in excess of 40MPH! These cars also climbing hills, ford through mud, take sweet jumps, and even float in water!