Baja is one of the SAE's (Society of Automotive Engineers) design competitions. This competition is held in the USA, Brazil, Korea and here at home in South Africa. Baja requires participants to use real-world engineering practices to conquer the challenges associated with designing and building a recreational all-terrain vehicle. This competition also challenges the entrants to not only build a vehicle that will win the competition but also one that is feasible for mass production purposes ñ thereby incorporating both the disciplines of racing & performance design with industrial design.

The vehicles required to compete in a Baja event must be able to endure rough terrain consisting of rocks, logs, jumps, drops, mud, and water and whatever other natural obstacles race track has to offer. To level the playing field, each team is supplied a Briggs & Stratton 10 hp engine which must be kept standard. The Baja team must take the engine and build or buy components to construct the rest of the vehicle whilst keeping in mind all the racing rules and design rules posed by the SAE for safe and fair competition.

The construction of the vehicles requires the use CNC-machines, lathes, milling machines, saws, drills, various welders and many more manufacturing instruments.

The competitions are broken into three separate categories: static events, dynamic events, and the famous endurance race.

Before you even arrive at the race site the competition is well underway. Teams are required to submit a design report and a cost report to the judges. The design report documents all the features of the design, including analysis and engineering drawings. The cost report is used to determine how much the car would cost to mass produce. Once on the race site, there are two more static events. A safety inspection of the car is performed by judges. Compliance with racing regulations is checked and non-compliance results in disqualification if it cannot be fixed. The judges give points based on suspension, steering, braking, ergonomics, manufacturability, etc.

Dynamic Events

After passing the static events, a team may participate in the four dynamic events. Past dynamic events have included a pulling force test, acceleration run, various hill climbs, manoeuvrability course and mud bog. For each event, teams are scored based on how well they do in comparison to the other teams.

Endurance Race

The endurance race is just what it sounds like, a long, gruelling race over rough terrain. The event can last four hours and consist of obstacles that can easily destroy suspensions and send drive trains to the junk yard. Throughout the race, cars will be dragged back to the pits by ATVs for repairs. The teams that did their homework are the teams that shine in the endurance race.