In its first year of national competition, the UALR Trojan Racing team brought home 46th place out of 115 competitors in the Society of Automotive Engineers’ (SAE) Baja Collegiate Competition.

Baja SAE consists of three regional competitions that simulate real-world engineering design projects and their related challenges. Engineering students are tasked to design and build an off-road vehicle that will survive the severe punishment of rough terrain and sometimes even water.

The team, composed of students in the Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology (EIT), was the only one from Arkansas to compete in the Peoria, Ill., competition. The Arkansas Space Grant Consortium served as a major sponsor of the team.

The team was judged in several areas, including its sales presentation, cost of the vehicle, overall performance, endurance, and design.

The object of the competition is to provide SAE student members with a challenging project that involves the planning and manufacturing tasks found when introducing a new product to the consumer industrial market. Teams compete to have their design accepted for manufacture by a fictitious firm. Students must function as a team to not only design, build, test, promote, and race a vehicle within the limits of the rules, but also to generate financial support for their project and manage their educational priorities.