The Penn College Baja SAE team hopes to build on past success when it concludes the 2024 season this week at Baja SAE Michigan (Sept. 12-15). Penn College will compete against 84 teams representing colleges from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.
Baja SAE requires schools to design, manufacture and build a single-seat, all-terrain vehicle to survive various tests that challenge the students’ ingenuity and the car’s quality. The premier event is a four-hour endurance race over rugged terrain consisting of numerous obstacles.
The Penn College Baja SAE team captured fourth place in the endurance race in May at Baja SAE Williamsport. That competition – conducted at the college’s Heavy Construction Equipment Operations Site in Brady Township – featured 102 teams and about 1,800 students.
Since 2011, Penn College has recorded 15 top-10 finishes in the endurance race, including a fourth-place showing in May at Baja SAE Williamsport. That competition – conducted at the college’s Heavy Construction Equipment Operations Site in Brady Township – featured 102 teams and about 1,800 students.
“We’ve taken the car apart, cleaned all the components and reassembled it. We made some slight adjustments to the clutch and have been doing a lot of testing and tuning,” said John G. Upcraft, instructor of manufacturing and machining and faculty adviser to Penn College’s Baja SAE club. “I feel good about our chances to do well in Michigan, especially in the endurance race.”
Baja SAE Michigan will be held at the Mt. Holly Ski and Snowboard Resort, located about 55 miles northwest of Detroit.
The Penn College team’s performance in Michigan can be monitored via the Baja SAE app, available for free on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
Get Penn College News in your inbox each morning.