Baja

I joined the Olin Mini BAJA team my third week of school. I didn’t know the first thing about cars, but the Baja team took me under their wing.

I learned how to use SolidWorks’ PDM for file sharing, and I designed several parts for the car using SolidWorks. I also machined some parts; I got MIG welding trained solely to help with fabrication, and I used my skills to weld part of the CVT testing rig. I also got practice operating a cold saw, band saw, and belt sander while working on the car.

We traveled to a Tennessee Mini Baja competition at the end of the second semester. We performed extraordinarily well in the static events, such as acceleration, sled-pull, suspension, and maneuverability. We had a rougher go with the endurance course; it’s designed to break your car, and it did break our car — twice!