University Of Virginia SAE Mini-Baja

The University of Virginia Baja team successfully completed construction of the front spaceframe of the 2008 Baja car. UVa Baja Team members returned from winter break early to begin construction of the new Baja car. Construction began on the 10th of January with planning and layout of the jig table. With a few miscues and some frustrations the main Baja structure came together quickly and accurately. Completion of the spaceframe this early in the year is a huge improvement in the Virginia Baja build process.

Going into the winter recess the team is in excellent position to begin the build process. The frame team has finalized the front spaceframe and many team members are planning to return early to begin construction. The rest of the design teams are working hard to meet a February 1st design deadline. Once the designs are completed the plan is to build the complete car in two months and then do a month of testing in April.

To test the performance of the UVa Baja cars the team constructed a set of obstacles at the Milton airfield. This Baja test track has been christened the, Joshua T. Owens Memorial Proving Grounds. The team will be able to take lap times, check for suspension bottom-out, and test the durability of the Baja car over these new obstacles. Based on the testing data changes can be made and tuning can be done to prepare the UVa Baja car as best as possible for the SAE Baja competitions.

Returning University of Virginia Baja team members took newly recruited Virginia Baja members out to the Baja work shop for an orientation. The new UVa Baja members were shown the machines and capabilities that we have at the Milton Airfield Baja shop and everyone had some fun driving the 2005, 2006, and 2007 Baja cars.

Welcome back to Virginia Baja Racing! The team learned a lot in 2007 and we have grand plans for the 2008 Baja car. The Baja team has been divided into 6 major design groups: Frame, Flotation & Water Propulsion, Front Suspension, Rear Suspension, Brakes, Powertrain. Each Baja design category has a team in charge of that portion of the car. Design will begin immediately so that the Baja car can be built early and we can perform plenty of testing.