By SEMA Editors
The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) is bringing bringing Baja back to California—a central hub of off-roading—after a nearly 20-year absence. Baja SAE is a collegiate engineering design competition where students design, build and race a small off-road vehicle powered by an unmodified 10hp Briggs & Stratton engine. The competition provides SAE student members with a challenging project involving the design, planning, manufacturing and test tasks found when developing a new product. Teams compete against one another to have their design accepted for manufacture by a fictitious firm. Not only do the students have to function as a team to design, build, test, promote and race a vehicle within the limits of the rules, they also have to generate financial support for their project and manage their educational priorities.
The four-day event will be held May 19–22 at the Quail Canyon Special Events Area at the Hungry Valley SVRA in Gorman and The College of the Canyons in Valencia. The event will consist of schools from across the United States and more than five countries. With an expected 1,300 attendees, a variety of volunteer roles are available, including design judges, business presentation judges, general volunteers and recovery crew riders.
For more information or to volunteer, visit the Baja SAE website and email bajasaeca@gmail.com.