For those interested who didn't get the updates on the Facebook, URI did as well as we could have hoped at the Baja SAE competition at UTEP! We were by far the smallest team with only 4 members. For comparison, UCLA had 35 team members onsite, with another 40 or so back at home...
We had a couple issues getting through tech...G-Force shipped a batch of arm-restraints that were not labeled with the date of manufacture (SFi confirmed that these are no good, and is not considering them approved), and our ancient brakes had a tough time passing the brake test (must lock all 4 wheels from close to top speed; had to scuff the rotors pretty good, and shine the hell out of the tires). Finally made it through tech by 2:30 on Saturday, leaving us 2.5 hours to run the acceleration test, Hill Climb, suspension test, and maneuverability events. Our acceleration results started us 57th of 109 entries for the endurance race Sunday.
Saturday night, we walked the endurance course. It took us an hour and a half to walk the 1.3 mile course and got lost at least once (to give you an idea of the terrain). I'm talking 60 degree slopes downhill over rocks three guys couldn't move.
I got the first stint Sunday, as I have the most experience of the team in dealing with racing traffic. Got less than 1/4 of the way around the track and lost the throttle cable...spent a half hour getting pulled back to the paddock and fixing the issue. Re-entered the race in 67th, and by the end of my stint, we were up to 45th. Couple of driver swaps, we continuously moved through the field. There were A LOT of broken cars. Before our last driver went in, we had moved up to 19th! Last driver tried to re-enter the race, but our battery had failed, so we had no brake or reverse lights-no good. Quick swap of the battery lost us another 20 minutes and we re-entered in 23rd. We moved back up to 19th at one point, before falling back a couple to finish 22nd! Fitting for the #22 car.
To give you an idea of how destructive the course was, only 74 of the 109 entries finished one lap in four hours. Only 60 or so finished more than 1. We are all quite proud of ourselves for the accomplishment of building a completely new car this year, and with virtually no testing (aside from a run across the quad before loading it up) finished with no real mechanical failures.
Some pictures can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/UriSAEMiniBaja
Keep an eye out for some up coming videos!
And most of all, THANKS to all those who supported us!