Guests at the first Western New England University Open House of the semester were invited to watch an off-road Baja race featuring the Golden Bear Racing Team, and teams from Northeastern University and the University of New Hampshire. The event took place on campus at an off-road racetrack recently built by students and sponsored by T&M Equipment Corporation.
Just last spring the Western New England University Golden Bear Racing Team earned third place in the Hill Climb event as they competed against nearly 100 other teams, at the Baja Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Collegiate Design Series competition held in California.
The objective of the competition is to provide students with a challenging project that involves project management, design, and manufacturing tasks found when introducing a new product to the consumer industrial market. The program is organized to operate like a small startup business and welcomes students from all disciplines, including business, marketing, and, of course, engineering.
While it looks like a lot of fun, the program offers direct links from classroom learning to application because students are designing, building, and testing the vehicles themselves starting with only a motor.
Engineering senior Dan Groth explained, “You literally could not buy a better experience because I not only get to teach the underclassmen but get to work with upperclassmen.”
The Western New England University Baja Society of Engineers welcomes students to take part in the program regardless of their major, as the Baja program operates like a startup business and can use enthusiastic students with a variety of skills.
Watch a video about the team from Western Mass News.
