Rowan team gears up for Baja competition in Alabama

Inside the high-bay laboratory in the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering at Rowan University sits a small off-road vehicle, yellow and brown in color. A group of students huddle around the vehicle – some taking pieces apart, some fixing components and others talking with their faculty advisor.

The vehicle, named “The Rowan Car," is the pride and joy of the Rowan Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Baja team. The 14-member team spent countless hours designing, perfecting and assembling the race car to take it to the Laval University in Quebec City, Canada, last winter for the Épreuve du Nord SAE Baja competition, where it placed fifth out of 29 teams. During the past few months, the team worked tirelessly under the guidance of Dr. Eric Constans to compete in the upcoming Baja competition to be held in Auburn, Alabama, on April 7.

“We knew we wanted to be in the competition last year, so we started early and put a lot of time and effort into the project over the summer and fall, spending countless hours in the machine shop to perfect the car,” said Jessica Snyder, a junior mechanical engineering student from Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. “This is a team that refuses to settle for anything less than perfect, and so long as we continue to work hard this semester, I have no doubt we will do well in this year's competition.”

The SAE Baja competition challenges close to 100 engineering collegiate teams every year to design, build and race an off-road vehicle. A panel judges the cars based on a number of criteria, including design, cost, presentation, acceleration, traction, land maneuverability, rock crawl, suspension and endurance races that are designed to break the 300-pound cars.

“We started working on the car early in May last year, and to date each of us has contributed more than 100 hours on machine operation – which is a lot of time,” said Matthew Leoncini, the team captain, from Blairstown, New Jersey. “When we first raced the car on track, it actually made us realize the amount of work that went into building a car that worked with no power-steering or heat and yet didn’t break down for two hours in the cold.”

The Rowan Baja team’s performance on the track in Quebec was its best finish ever since Rowan first fielded a car in 2003. The team also placed 11th for suspension and traction and 12th for land maneuverability. Each year, the students build a car with a pre-made 10-horse power engine provided by Briggs & Stratton, and the team has control over the design of the car.

Constans, a mechanical engineering professor said, “The best thing about this year's Baja team is the team chemistry. I have a group of driven, incredibly hardworking students who are able to get along with each other and accomplish very difficult tasks in a timely manner. They are able to put in very long hours together without too much ‘drama’ or team ‘meltdowns.’  This team has been a pleasure to advise.”

For most students on the team, the Baja competition is a remarkable event in their Rowan campus life. “That first time we turned on the car and drove was one of the best nights of our entire college life. None of us will trade this experience for anything,” said Snyder.

The team will leave for Alabama next week for the upcoming competition and hopes to place among the top teams. “It is a tough competition. We have made a lot of additions and improvements to the car, and we are confident to perform better this time,” said Leoncini.

The Rowan SAE Baja team also includes Carter Bagnell, Nicole Puzi,

Trevor Glenn Thayer, Christopher Clark, Brendon Rush, Adam Mieloch, Kyle Peachey, Tom Halsey, Dan Freeman, Angelo Matrisciano and Tim St. Onge. This year’s team was sponsored by SolidWorks, Poly-Performance, Techni-Tool, Monster Energy Drinks, Briggs and Stratton and Polaris.