UBC BAJA All-Terrain Vehicle
UBC Baja is designing, building, and racing an all new vehicle for the 2020 Baja SAE International competition in Louisville, Kentucky. Your support will help us be a top competitor.
Story Description
At UBC Baja we design, fabricate, test, and race a single-seat, off-road vehicle. At the end of each academic year, our team competes internationally in the Baja SAE collegiate design series. Organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), intercollegiate competitions are held in the United States and take place over the course of several days. Teams are judged on a variety of events with scores based on the team’s engineering designs, business presentation and vehicle performance over a punishing course. To culminate, the 120+ competing universities and colleges race wheel-to-wheel in a grueling four-hour endurance race over rocks, jumps, mud pits and other obstacles designed to push the vehicles’ limits.
We are proud of holding a respectable standing while being one of the newer student teams at the University of British Columbia. Last year we were able to compete in two competitions. Our greatest attribute last year was our highly tuned suspension system which allowed us to comfortably take turns at sharper angles and at much higher speeds. With the experience and growth we have had, we see our potential to be a top ten team this year.
We would like to build on the solid foundation we have created and continue to refine our designs to achieve our goal of becoming a top competitor. This year, we are competing in Louisville, Kentucky on May 14-17. It is our mission to help engineering students develop their skills in design, fabrication, and project management, and we believe that attending competition is where all these skills come together to provide the most valuable learning experience. This is why your support means so much to each and every team member!
Challenges & Impact of Your Support
As with most design teams, the students’ responsibility doesn’t stop at designing, building, testing and racing the vehicle. We are also responsible for raising financial support while balancing the rigorous demands of our engineering studies and extracurricular commitments. In the past our vehicle was built with a budget of $20,000 thanks to our generous sponsors and grants. Most teams we compete against, many of which we outperform, build their vehicles on a budget of $60,000-$80,000. Having this additional funding will allow our team to better optimize our designs through enhanced testing and more precise manufacturing methods. Ultimately, without sufficient funding, we will have to sacrifice certain design projects in favour of producing a vehicle that can be completed under our tight fiscal budget. The more support we get, the more we improve our performance. Having utilized available grants and sponsors, we now look to you to help further our passions and aspirations to rank among the top ten.
About UBC Baja
Founded in 2011, UBC Baja is among the newest design teams at the university. Since its creation, the team has designed, manufactured, and competed annually at Baja SAE competitions across the continent. What began as a small group of inexperienced students has now grown into a talented, professional team. Our team’s original leaders worked hard to create a working prototype, without prior knowledge, that could be brought to competition. The next leaders worked hard to develop our manufacturing practices and ensure our vehicle is built efficiently and professionally. Our last group of leaders improved our design abilities by employing more software techniques and performing highly constructive and critical design reviews. This year our team is being led by a new group of leaders. Our goal is to use the knowledge accrued by past captains and translate that to scoring based design metrics. We want our team to be more professional in our presentations as well as continue to both design professionally and manufacture accurately. Our team is full of knowledge and ambition, and Baja is an outlet for our passion. It is a place where we can take theories learned in the lecture hall and implement them in physical products. Baja is a team where collaboration is promoted, and teamwork is necessary for achieving a collective goal. It is a project where ingenuity and critical thinking are rewarded with a high performing vehicle to be proud of.
We have so much planned for the upcoming year and hope you will play a part in this journey. We will have our new vehicle built for competition in May of 2020. To stay connected and keep up with the team’s progress follow us on Instagram (@ubcbaja), like us on Facebook (UBC Baja SAE), and check out our videos on YouTube. #BuildingTheLegacy
