Gonzaga’s Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) celebrated its entry into the elite of the annual Baja Car series by ‘climbing the big hill’ this year via their performance in the 2016 Baja SAE Series.
Gonzaga SAE members participated in the four-day, intercollegiate event May 19 through May 22, 2016 in Gorman, California. As stated by the Society of Automotive Engineers rules, “Each team’s goal is to design and build a single-seat, all-terrain, sporting vehicle whose structure contains the driver.” The competition consists of four events: Acceleration,
Hill Climb, Maneuverability, and the Rock Crawl as well as a four-hour Endurance Race. The Hill Climb and Endurance Race are often the most difficult events.
The car team at the 2016 SAE Baja Car Competition.
Currently in its fourth year of recent efforts on the Baja, the Gonzaga SAE team not only completed each of the first four events, their vehicle successfully completed the grueling, 4-hour endurance test on the last day. This first successful completion of the endurance test was one of the highlights of the event for the team. Club member and mechanical engineering sophomore, Isabella Verdugo said, “We were overjoyed” with this successful outcome. Completing this difficult task creates a sense of accomplishment and further motivates future club efforts to continue to pursue excellence.
SAE’s Baja Car goes through the Maneuverability test.
Through their success in the Hill Climb Event, the team also demonstrated that their design was of a quality equal to or better than those of significantly larger schools entered in this competition. The Hill Climb required teams to maneuver their vehicle up a 300-foot,
30-degree hill. This proved an exceptionally difficult task for most, and we are extremely proud that the Gonzaga car finished 8th among the 80 teams competing. This is an exceptional result in only the fourth year of recent efforts – congratulations to our team!
Baja car students in the Manufacturing Technology Center (MTC).
Beyond seeing their hard work come to fruition, our students also had the opportunity to network and build relationships with students from the more than 90 teams hailing from multiple U.S., as well as several international universities. They also had the opportunity for conversation with a number of potential future employers interested in the automotive industry.
The Baja Car
The team was advised by first-year faculty advisor, Dr. Marc Baumgardner, as well as by Manufacturing Support Engineer, Mr. Beau Grillo. The team was supported at the event by the well wishes and cheers of Gonzaga fans. Following the event, Mr. Grillo noted that “There was a good amount of Gonzaga supporters in the crowd in California, both alumni and students’ families.” Thank you for your support!
SAE is one of 11 clubs and professional societies gaining visibility through increased activities within the School of Engineering and Applied Science. SAE has a specific objective to offer its members experience in developing, planning, and hands-on execution of projects in the mechanical and automotive fields. The club welcomes all engineering students from freshman to seniors. The School welcomes all financial support of future efforts of the SAE club, as well as the other student clubs and professional societies within our School.