Auburn Baja

[ragingpitbulls20]

The Baja SAE Alabama 2009 Organizers at Auburn University announce, with great regret, that it is not possible to provide deep water for this competition. Therefore, the Baja vehicles will not be required to float in the Endurance Race, and there will be no Water Maneuverability short event. This is a final decision, and Baja vehicle design and construction for the Alabama competition may proceed on this basis.

The situation is that for institutional reasons, there is no practical site for the Alabama competition other than the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT), which was used in a 2006 competition. Deep water on that site was provided by diversion of a creek (itself fed by a 664 acre watershed) into a pond which was dug and graveled specifically for the 2006 competition. The creek feeds a historical wetland on the NCAT site which had never been dry from before the time NCAT began its own construction site surveys in 1997 until the spring of 2007. However, at that time, east central Alabama entered a period of drought from which it has still not recovered. The pond floor is now dust dry and cracked. Deep spots in the creek are dust dry to a depth of several inches. NOAA long range forecasts suggest that east central Alabama will experience severely below normal levels of precipitation in the coming winter and spring. The pond and creek are dry, with no reliable prospect for change in the forecastable future.

Summing up, our pond is unlikely to be filled by rainfall and runoff, as it was in the past. Municipal water is not available in that area. Drilling a well was investigated but rejected as excessively costly, with an excessively risky outcome (based on performance of other wells in the wider watershed). Hauling water by tanker was found to be excessively costly, and somewhat open-ended, given the dryness of the terrain surrounding the pond. In 2006, we were fortunate that providence and our own exertions were able to combine to create a water site. Under the old Baja organization (East = water), it would have been a calamity if it were not so. But now it appears that changing weather patterns and local hydrography have made this site untenable for reliable water competition. It is only very slightly comforting that under the new Baja organization (geography unspecified), provision for water is not compulsory to an eastern competition.

Short dynamic events for Baja SAE Alabama 2009 will be Acceleration (on dirt), a pulling event (also on dirt - we do not expect to reuse the 2006 log pull mechanism), Maneuverability, and Suspension & Traction. The Endurance Race will be four hours long. We will probably think of something to do with the old pond bed as an obstacle on the Endurance course. If we're lucky, it might be muddy. If we're very lucky, we might have a few inches of standing water. But under no circumstances will a float be necessary or even useful. We hope that all Baja SAE teams will use this announcement to refine their land-based Baja vehicle designs, and we look forward in great anticipation to seeing you all in Auburn this April!

-Peter Jones
Chief Organizer, Baja SAE Alabama, 2009

[LSUtigerME]

Disappointing. We've always competed in the East competition, and enjoy the extra challenge of the water. It makes it that much more difficult, and unique. I kind of hope they make another event water, just to make teams switch it up a bit. Either design for water, that never had to before, or force them to travel a bit more.

Never been to the Midwest or West competitions, but our team was anticipating going this year. The auburn track was really good in '06, and water was a very small portion. They should still build a great track.

[minibajaman]

Finally, it's about time they got rid of the water portion of Baja competitions. Too bad it's only for this year and not permanent.

[ragingpitbulls20]

I couldnt agree more. We are trying to go to two events for the first time this year.

[devone]

I was pretty excited to hear that they were taking the water out of the East competition. Our school allows us less than a year to design and build a car from the ground up, so the water competition usually deters us from East. I wonder if they are going to increase the track difficulty due to the lack of the water section.

Has anyone heard of when they will be posting dates for registration and rules for the 2009 season?


Devon
LTU Baja
Team Leader

[TTUBAJAMAN]

Well there's some pros and cons to the water event being eliminated. It gives other teams less to worry about in order to make it to the first of the three baja rounds. It also allows more time for R&D on new ideas.

However, being able to do the water event displays whether a team's engineering design works, and how well it works.

[minibajaman]

Originally Posted by TTUBAJAMAN

However, being able to do the water event displays whether a team's engineering design works, and how well it works.

Except that in my experience (the only water competition I ever went to was RIT 2005) it seems like at least half the teams don't so much engineer their flotation systems as they mostly just rig some sort of foam onto their car.

I always thought that the water event was stupid in a competition called 'Baja' and where all the vehicles are buggies. If I wanted a vehicle to drive through water as well as on land I would get a 6 wheeler instead of a buggy. The flotation does nothing but hinder the land performance of the baja cars, which makes the competition not as much fun as the other non floating competitions IMO.

[LSUtigerME]

I think the water adds a lot to the design and engineering of the competition, as well as offer something different. If you don't like/want water, you can go to the other events. It's always seemed odd to me that the water event is first, which cuts some time for water research and design. So it is true that a lot of cars just tape or strap on some foam blocks and call it done. However, some cars put a lot of time and research into making their foam. I know we applied a lot of effort and time into our foam. Water propulsion can add a lot to design and engineering of the car as well, depending on the route you take. It causes a decision making process of weighing water performance with the other typical parameters of a good car.

I'm disappointed to see it removed this year (especially with claims of drought with hurricane season approaching) since it does add so much to the competition. I think TTU did it right this past year with the length/time in the water, but I feel the "water maneuverability" event was somewhat disappointing. Auburn was too short to matter, and Ocala was too long, so it was all that mattered.