Spring Break
Off road vehicles, not Mini Coopers, made in SAE Mini-Baja
Jason Gomes
Issue date: 1/28/05 Section: News
- Page 1 of 3 next >
Twelve seniors majoring in mechanical engineering and mechanics have based their senior design project around the SAE Mini-Baja challenge which will take place on May 5-7 2005 in Rochester, New York.
"Mini Baja consists of three regional competitions that simulate real-world engineering design projects and their related challenges," according to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) website. "Engineering students are tasked to design and build an off-road vehicle that will survive the severe punishment of rough terrain and water."
"The object of the competition is to provide SAE student members with a challenging project that involves the planning and manufacturing tasks found when introducing a new product to the consumer industrial market. Teams compete against one another to have their design accepted for manufacture by a fictitious firm. Students must function as a team to not only design, build, test, promote, and race a vehicle within the limits of the rules, but also to generate financial support for their project and manage their educational priorities."
The competition takes place over a three day period. The first day will involve testing the economic, marketing and business aspects of the car. The second day will involve top speed testing and other vehicle tests. The third day will be the real competition which involves each team racing on a simulated off-road track. The team with the fastest speed will win this competition. Over this period teams will be given points and the team with the most points at the culmination of the three day event will be the winner.
"Drexel will be competing against approximately 66 teams," Jason Franklin, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering and mechanics said. "The number could be larger or could be smaller if a lot of schools don't finish in time for the competition because of vehicle breaking down."
Franklin and his team's vision is to convert this project into a student club with an organizational structure similar to the Drexel SAE club. They would like to recruit undergraduate students to participate in future Mini Baja Challenge competitions. "We did this project because we wanted to start something at Drexel and spread the MEM department name," John Shust, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering and mechanics said. "We don't want this to be just a senior design project but hopefully something that will happen for years to come."
"Mini Baja consists of three regional competitions that simulate real-world engineering design projects and their related challenges," according to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) website. "Engineering students are tasked to design and build an off-road vehicle that will survive the severe punishment of rough terrain and water."
"The object of the competition is to provide SAE student members with a challenging project that involves the planning and manufacturing tasks found when introducing a new product to the consumer industrial market. Teams compete against one another to have their design accepted for manufacture by a fictitious firm. Students must function as a team to not only design, build, test, promote, and race a vehicle within the limits of the rules, but also to generate financial support for their project and manage their educational priorities."
The competition takes place over a three day period. The first day will involve testing the economic, marketing and business aspects of the car. The second day will involve top speed testing and other vehicle tests. The third day will be the real competition which involves each team racing on a simulated off-road track. The team with the fastest speed will win this competition. Over this period teams will be given points and the team with the most points at the culmination of the three day event will be the winner.
"Drexel will be competing against approximately 66 teams," Jason Franklin, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering and mechanics said. "The number could be larger or could be smaller if a lot of schools don't finish in time for the competition because of vehicle breaking down."
Franklin and his team's vision is to convert this project into a student club with an organizational structure similar to the Drexel SAE club. They would like to recruit undergraduate students to participate in future Mini Baja Challenge competitions. "We did this project because we wanted to start something at Drexel and spread the MEM department name," John Shust, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering and mechanics said. "We don't want this to be just a senior design project but hopefully something that will happen for years to come."
Be the first to comment on this story