The Society of Automotive Engineers Baja competition gives OSU students the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in the creation of an off-road recreational vehicle. From initial planning, budgets and schedules, to the final fabrication and assembly, engineering students are responsible for every detail. The complete vehicle is then entered into a competition against racers from other schools across the country. The evaluation includes design and safety judging as well as driving events that tests the car's handling maneuverability and durability.
Restrictions on the car's size and engine are structured so that knowledge, creativity and imagination of the students are challenged. The car is built by team effort over the summer and school year. The final product is then taken to a competition for judging and comparison against other student designed vehicles from across the nation. First to be judged are the static events, which include the design, marketing presentation and cost report. After the completion of these events, the dynamic events take place. These include a hill-climb, acceleration test, rock crawl, manuverability course, mud bog, chain pull, and a four hour endurance race. The endurance race is the equalizer of the event, where approximately 60% of the vehicles do not finish. The end result is a great experience for young engineers in a meaningful engineering project as well as the opportunity of working in a dedicated team effort.
Originally, the program was based around the idea that this vehicle will be manufactured at a quantity of 4000 units per year and marketed to a target segment of weekend warriors. Though this is no longer true, the performance, reliability, maintainability, and cost, are all critical factors in the development of this vehicle. The OSU team is currently working together in researching, designing and building a winning vehicle to compete in the 2008 SAE Baja competitions.