Engineering students motor to silver medal in international Baja competition [1]
The stress of an endurance race is waiting for failure, according to Cody Sinnaeve.
"You see all the cars coming in from breakages and you start wondering what's going to break on yours," he said after captaining Lancer Motorsports to a silver-medal finish in the Society of Automotive Engineers 2010 Baja competition in Rochester, New York, June 10 to 13.
The competition involves teams of fourth-year engineering students who design, build, test, promote, and fund small off-road vehicles, then bring them to compete head-to-head against their peers. The University of Windsor entry finished second overall in a field of 89 teams from Canada, the United States, France, India, South Korea, and Venezuela.
It's Windsor's best-ever result, and included more than $2,000 in prize money as well as a large trophy.
"We knew we had a solid car," Sinnaeve said. "We could just enjoy knowing we would finish in the top 10. The biggest surprise was winning through the dynamic events."
Those dynamic events included a hill climb, tests of the vehicles' suspension, acceleration, and maneuverability on land and water, culminating in a four-hour-long race on rough terrain.
Scott Elliot, the team's technical lead in powertrain design, said Windsor's Baja vehicle was light but tough.
"We lessened the weight as much as we thought was safe, but a lot of our success in the races was due to shifting the centre of gravity back," he said. "We shortened the wheelbase, which helped to prevent our car from nose-diving as it went over the jumps."
Faculty advisor Bruce Minaker called the team's silver medal a major success.
"This is a huge accomplishment," he said. "They have been preparing for about a year, and spent a great deal of time and effort on the project."
Ready for take-off: the Lancer Motorsports entry catches some air during the SAE Baja competition, June 13 in New York. The team won second place overall, a best-ever finish for Windsor Engineering.
News story courtesy of UWin Daily News