MSU Baja SAE Racing Nips at the Heels of Glory – Takes 2nd Place

September 29th 2007 – Transportation Research Center; Honda ATV Proving Grounds
The MSU Baja SAE racing team falls just short of capturing 1st place in Honda’s (Dayton SAE) invitational race at one of their proving grounds in East Liberty, Ohio! The team was second to Auburn University by only 17 seconds. The Dayton Section SAE hosted 24 schools from both the US and Canada, inviting them to experience the mud, rock beds, and maneuvering challenges of one of Honda’s testing facilities.

The car raced for this event, known to the team as “Turtle”, is in its 3rd season of racing, proving the team’s quality of engineering and design. Turtle was able to complete the entire 3 hour race challenge equivalent to around 40 laps of the testing course. The course included obstacles such as a water pit, mud pit, rock bed, and slalom sections. The car only had to pit for fuel and to replace the number cutouts which had been ripped off as a result of the excessive amount of mud caked on the vehicle. The largest challenge of the race was maintaining the performance of the vehicle despite the high exposure of mud and water to the vehicle systems.

The team received a prize of $400 and a plaque for their 2nd Place Finish.

Interested in joining the growing tradition of MSU Baja SAE Racing? Visit our website www.egr.msu.edu/baja
Ken Maisonville
Joshua Thomet
Captains
Copyright © 2007, Michigan State University Baja SAE Team