On June 6, Farmingdale State College’s Mini-Baja team successfully competed with its first ever off-road vehicle. The students took their vehicle to Illinois for the Society of Automotive Engineers Mini-Baja competition where representatives from various colleges test run their vehicles. Farmingdale State College students presented their dedicated work in a collaborative senior project and placed 89 out of 115 teams.
The Farmingdale team, headed by Dr. Jeff Hung, assistant professor of mechanical engineering technology and Ken Tax, network administrator for the school of engineering technology, started this project four semesters ago from an 80-page rulebook and five MET students. Now the team has a total of 15 members from different disciplines. The students applied much of what they had learned to the project. Their work consisted of engineering, designing, fabrication, safety, bookkeeping, cost analysis, technical writing, decision-making, marketing and test-driving skills.
“The goal was not just in making a better Mini-Baja vehicle but also to have senior students offer their help to underclassmen in various subjects,” said Dr. Hung. “The students learned what it takes to work under immense pressure and, as a result, became stronger as a team.
Baja SAE is an off-road vehicle design competition. The SAE Mini-Baja is held annually throughout the United States and internationally. The SAE is an organization of automakers dedicated to advancing automotive engineering worldwide. Over the course of one year each team creates a reduced-scale off-road (Mini-Baja) vehicle to be tested against schools throughout America but also against schools from other countries.
