Penn College team gears up for Baja SAE Ohio

Hoping to rebound from a hard-luck result in May in New York, Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Baja SAE team is aiming for a top finish at this week’s season-ending competition in Nashport, Ohio.

“I’m optimistic. I’m excited to see what we can do,” said John G. Upcraft, instructor of manufacturing and machining and faculty adviser to Penn College’s Baja SAE club. “I’m excited that we have been able to test and tune our car as much as we have.”

At Baja SAE Ohio (Sept. 24-27), Penn College will be competing against 80-plus colleges and universities from throughout the United States, as well as entries from Canada, China, Mexico and Turkey. Teams are required to design and build a single-seat all-terrain car to withstand several tests that challenge students’ ingenuity and vehicle quality.

The main event is a four-hour endurance race that forces the cars to navigate tight turns, rugged terrain and numerous obstacles. Since 2011, Penn College has recorded 16 top-10 showings and won the race twice.

“I’m hoping for another top-10 finish. I’d be really happy to get in the top five,” Upcraft said about Baja SAE Ohio. “I told the students that we’re kind of due for a good race.”

Penn College finished 41st out of 85 cars in the endurance race at Baja SAE New York. Broken parts caused by a couple rollovers limited the 330-pound car to 34 laps.

“The biggest change we’ve made is switching the gears in our gearbox to give us a different ratio,” Upcraft said. “Then we had to go back and tune the clutch for the new ratio. We’ve lost a little bit off our top speed but picked up some in acceleration. I feel it’s going to be a better match for this course.”

Team members have been working daily since the start of the semester in preparation for Baja SAE Ohio. Much of that time has been devoted to driver training and car testing at a 4x4 track in Jersey Shore.

“I feel really good about my drivers,” Upcraft said. “I’m also confident for the endurance race because we’ve had days when we’ve run the car for 10 hours. So, any problems that would reveal themselves during the endurance race should have shown up during testing. We’ve done everything on our end to minimize the chances of breaking.”

In addition to the endurance race, the Penn College team will compete in a series of dynamic events at Baja SAE Ohio, including maneuverability, suspension and traction, acceleration, and hill climb.

Penn College’s effort in Ohio can be monitored via the Baja SAE app, available for free on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.