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What Is Mini Baja?
Mini Baja is one of the Collegiate Design Series made possible by the Society of Automotive Engineers. There are three regional competitions that are meant to simulate real-world engineering design projects and the challenges that go along with them. Engineering students design and build an off-road vehicle that will survive the severe punishment of rough terrain. 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 design, build, test, promote, race and generate financial support for their projects within the limits of the rules and also manage their educational priorities. All vehicles are powered by a ten-horsepower Intek Model 20 engine donated by Briggs & Stratton Corporation. Briggs & Stratton has been donating dependable engine's to the students for over 25 years. By making it a rule that all groups must use the same engine, the Society of Automotive Engineers has created a more challenging engineering design test. During the spring of 2002, the University of St. Thomas team made their rookie appearance in the Midwest Competition held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on May 31-June 2, 2002. The UST Mini Baja Racing Team competed against 110 registered teams in the Midwest competition. The team competed as team number 032. During the spring of 2003, the UST Mini Baja Racing Team returned to action in Troy, Ohio. The team was registered as team number 135 and competed against 121 teams. The team made a strong appearance and finished 48th overall in the 2003 competition. The team is registered to compete in the 2004 competition as car number 27. The UST Mini Baja Racing Team has been working very hard the past two school years to promote support for this project to the engineering community at the University of St. Thomas and within the Twin Cities. The team has worked to recruit and retain members and finance the project. This project is an asset to the undergraduate program at the University of St. Thomas.
Listed below are links to the SAE web-site for the Mini Baja competition: Official Event Website for Midwest Mini Baja Competition in Troy, Ohio SAE Collegiate Design Series Registered Teams 2003 Rule Book 2003
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Mini-Baja Webmaster: Julie
Reed
Updated: April 12, 2005 © 2005 University of St. Thomas
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