|
|
Post by Paul D on Apr 5, 2015 20:18:37 GMT
Hello guys, I'm not sure how many of you have heard of the series, but I am part of a team that builds Baja SAE vehicles (see my profile pic). It's a collegiate race series where we design, build, and race off road race vehicles against other colleges. Every year there are three races in the US. I go to University of Maryland - Baltimore County (UMBC) and we attend all three races every year. We are a pretty good team with a bunch of top 10 finishes in the last 4 years or so (100+ teams per race). If you want to learn more about my team in particular: sae.umbc.edu/The first race this year is April 9-12 in Auburn, Alabama at the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT). First two days are boring stuff. Saturday and Sunday are the fun dynamic events. Saturday has different events: acceleration, maneuverability, suspension & traction, and hillclimb. On Sunday is the 4 hour endurance race which is always the best event. I'll keep this thread updated with how the different events go. Hopefully we don't break. Edit: Also the other two events are: - Maryland (we are hosting for the first time ever) May 7-10
- Portland, Oregon May 27-30 |
|
|
|
Post by Paul D on Apr 10, 2015 6:04:17 GMT
Thursday is over. The only thing on the schedule for Thursdays is Business Presentation and Briggs & Stratton Engine Check.
At auburn they had a specific rule about not arriving before the paddocks opened at 8:00AM. We timed it pretty well along with a bunch of other teams and made it in right at 8:01. Our paddock spot ended up being on dirt. Not too happy about that as it is going to rain tomorrow. So we will have a muddy paddock to work on finishing the car. :/
Our business presentation we think went very well, although we won't know results until the end of the weekend.
The line for Briggs always starts crazy early. Around 8:45 there were already 10+ teams in line (and Briggs wasn't supposed to open until 2). It is important to get an early number in Briggs as that will determine where you line up for Tech Inspection on Friday. When we got in line we ended up with tech number 25. When we were up we successfully made it through as expected, so our engine is tacked in and ready to go. Tech inspection is tomorrow and we have tech #25, which isn't terrible, still not optimum though.
No one ever passes tech on the first try. They always find something silly or just plain dumb to catch you on.
Fridays activities are: Tech Inspection, Cost Audit, and Design Presentation.
|
|
|
|
Post by Troy Eddy, aka Jarhead on Apr 10, 2015 11:10:51 GMT
Sounds like a lot of fun. Can you give more information on the Maryland event? I live in Maryland and would be interested in checking it out. Probably just the Sunday endurance event since I work Tue-Sat.
|
|
|
|
Post by Paul D on Apr 10, 2015 11:40:15 GMT
Sure! Technically my school is hosting it but it will be held at Budds Creek MX which is way down at the southern end of MD. Usually the endurance races start sometime around 10am.
|
|
|
|
Post by tony kloosterman on Apr 10, 2015 12:51:26 GMT
good luck, this sounds interesting
|
|
|
|
Post by Troy Eddy, aka Jarhead on Apr 10, 2015 19:07:37 GMT
Sure! Technically my school is hosting it but it will be held at Budds Creek MX which is way down at the southern end of MD. Usually the endurance races start sometime around 10am. I know exactly where that is. I have never been there but drove by it a few times. I live in Prince George's county just south of DC, so that isn't far from me. |
|
|
|
Post by Pete Hebron on Apr 11, 2015 0:45:24 GMT
I wouldnt mind us meeting up down there.
|
|
|
|
Post by Paul D on Apr 11, 2015 11:39:53 GMT
That would be cool if you guys could make it out!
Yesterday was super busy as well. On the schedule was design judging, cost audit, and tech inspection.
We unfortunately didn't get through tech. Severe weather shut down all events twice during the day. Didn't leave us enough time to get to tech a second time. Design wasn't too great since we didn't have much time to prepare because we were still building the car after the first tech inspection found a lot of things they didn't like. We managed to get our cost audit moved to this morning before tech opens so we can get that out of the way before anything else.
Dynamic events start today so we need to get through tech and brake check as quick as possible if we want a shot at all the events.
Search for 'UMBC Racing' on Facebook if you want to see a picture of how she looks now.
|
|
|
|
Post by Paul D on Apr 12, 2015 6:04:45 GMT
Wow what a day.
After a lot of hard work and long hours by the team. We got through tech on our second try. From there we had a good, consistent day in the dynamic events:
Acceleration - 11th
Maneuverability - 12th
Suspension &Traction - 13th
Hill Climb - 17th
I drove hill climb and acceleration while Chris (other driver) drove maneuverability and suspension and traction. The car is all prepped for the 4 hour endurance race tomorrow. I'm starting the first stint and then taking the 3rd stint as well.
I believe there will be love timing and scoring if anyone is interested. Mobile.bajasae.met
|
|
|
|
Post by Paul D on Apr 12, 2015 20:28:24 GMT
That was quite a terrible endurance race for us. We've been having problems with our CVT secondary destroying snap rings. Same issue as during dynamic day yesterday.
We gridded up in 8th position which we were really happy with. Not bad for a car that was finished at the race site, and had less than 1 hour of racing time on it. Too bad less than a minute into the endurance race I heard a bang and lost all drive. Secondary blew out the snap rings again. Took 20 minutes to fix and I went back out again.
I managed to complete a full stint, despite being down on power and somehow blowing both front shocks (We will definitely be talking to the company about how/why they failed).
Chris went back out after my stint and within two laps misjudged our ride height due to the completely useless shocks and hit a rock.....ripped the nose pan and belly pan off. We didn't have any spares available so it took an hour and a half of frantic repair work to get running again.
By the time we returned to the track we were in 56th out of the 100 total teams. We limped it home to finish in a disappointing 55th. Pretty poor race for us. We might have been able to get top 10 in the overall competition if not for that.
|
|
