The BYU Baja Club for off-roading vehicle construction and racing held their first meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 11.
The club hopes to race their single-seat vehicles in the Society of Automotive Engineers’ competition May 1-4.
The club contains students from various majors who collaborate in a hands-on experience designed to help students bring engineering concepts to life, BYU Baja captain Dallin Gariety said.
The club started in the 1990s, when their current faculty advisor, Yuri Hovanski, competed as a student, Gariety said. At that time, the BYU Baja competed very well and even won some awards.
In 2005, the club disbanded after its advisor left and didn’t start up again until 2016, he added.
“We took first, second, third. We have a bunch of plaques. You can see them on the wall from those years — early 2000s, late 1990s — where we did really well,” Gariety said, pointing to a wall in BYU’s Motor Sport Lab.
Since then, the club placed in the middle of the pack most events they competed at, he said.
“My main drive for the past couple of years has been, what do I need to do organizational wise to make this a first place team, to make this a top contending team?” Gariety said.
Gariety said he loves collaborating with students from engineering and other majors and feels that BYU Baja has enhanced his studies.
“An engineering group like this broadens your understanding of what you're learning in class,” Gariety said. “I think it's the difference between competence and excellence. It just pushed me to do better and look for more out of my classes.”
Noah Kennedy, a senior studying construction management, said that he likes the visual, hands-on aspect of the club that allows students to build almost every part of the vehicle. Although he was in the club last year, he has not been to the competition yet but is excited to go this year.
“My favorite thing of all time is racing cars,” Kennedy said. “It's an exciting, very worthwhile club to be a part of.”
Joseph Broadhead, a graduate student studying manufacturing engineering, is the only club member this year that has been to the Society of Automotive Engineers’ competition previously. He explained that there are five different events that each team participates in: acceleration, rock crawl, hill climb, maneuverability and endurance.
Before the events begin, the first two days of the competition are spent doing technical and safety inspections, which each team must pass in order to compete. There are other aspects of the competition as well, such as a business presentation.
Teams can earn points in their presentations and events depending on their performance, Broadhead said. The first four events are approximately 100 points each and take a total of about two to three days to complete.
“Then the endurance event is worth 500, so definitely the most important event, the one that everyone kind of looks forward to,” Broadhead said.
This culminating race entails four hours of driving around a two-mile course laden with jumps, ruts and “a bunch of stuff that really beats up the car,” Broadhead said.
The goal is to drive as long as possible, and the car that completes the most laps wins, he added.
As BYU Baja starts up again this year, Gariety said that he is looking for students of all disciplines to come and be part of the team.
“If you come here willing to work, I'm going to make sure you get something out of it,” Gariety said. “If there are people out there that are scared of it being an engineering club and don't know if they'd be able to participate or add anything, they’re dead wrong. There's plenty of work to be done outside of an engineering field in Baja.”