The UNC Charlotte Baja SAE wants to thank all of our donors for their support during our crowdfunding campaign. We started this campaign with a goal of $2500. That goal was CRUSHED only two weeks into the campaign. We then set out to raise $5000. While that goal was not quite reached, we still surpassed our expectations and appreciate the support from each and every donor that made it possible. 

Without the generous contributions to our crowdfunding campaign, we wouldn't have been able to host the Inaugural Baja Shakedown in March. The event was a great success with our car beating cars from NC State and Clemson by more than ten laps. At this time, we fully plan on hosting the event again next year and hope that you'll continue to support the program throughout next year's efforts. The Baja team is currently wrapping up construction on a new car so that next year's team can hit the ground running to advance the program further. 

We want to again thank you for your donation to the education efforts of future engineers!

On Friday, March 22nd, the UNC Charlotte Baja SAE team held the Inaugural Baja Shakedown competition at Dirt World Motorsports Complex in Statesville, North Carolina. The event was implemented as an organized testing event prior to the first official SAE competition at Tennessee Tech on April 11th.

Four teams were registered for the event, bringing the car count to six cars. Due to mechanical issues, four cars took the green flag at 1:35 PM for a four hour endurance race. Each team, one from Charlotte, one from NC State, and two from Clemson, had their fair share of mechanical issues during the race, which truly tested the teams’ abilities to work together and persevere. Over the four hour race, the results were determined by the amount of laps completed. Charlotte won the competition, completing 78 total laps. They were followed by NC State, who completed 66 laps, and then Clemson’s two cars, completing 42 and 30 laps respectively.

Prizes were awarded to both visiting teams as a result of their finish. These prizes were provided by the gracious sponsors of the Inaugural Baja Shakedown - M2 Performance Solutions, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Stock Car Steel, Design Engineering Inc, Bayou Betty Cajun Express, and Dirt World Off Road Motorsports Complex.

At this time, the team plans to hold the Baja Shakedown again next season. More information will be available soon at bajashakedown.com.

We want to thank all of our donors that helped make our season and our competition a success. 

We are only four weeks away from competition and hosting the Inaugural Baja Shakedown at Dirt World in Statesville. The event is on Friday, March 22nd, with the four-hour endurance race starting at 1 PM. The public is more than welcome to attend the event for FREE. Gates open at 9 am and there will be on site food vendors.

In order to prepare for competition, the team is hard at work finishing the new chassis and updating the previous year’s car to the 2019 SAE safety rules. Fine tuning is also being done to the old car to increase performance based on the results from last year’s SAE competition. The data system is nearing the hardware phase. Permanent wiring and mounting into the car are on the docket for the coming weeks. The data system is on pace to be ready for pre-competition testing.

Our crowdfunding efforts continue to be ahead of where we expected to be at this point, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to quit! We want to again thank those that have donated thus far and ask that you will continue sharing the crowdfunding page (crowdfund.uncc.edu/baja) so we can expand the audience we are reaching!

We have made some major progress in manufacturing our new chassis. The roll cage is almost complete! Once we finish manufacturing the chassis, our data system will be added in along with the suspension, steering, and other components necessary for a completed car. We also have some teams registered for our Inaugural Baja Shakedown event in March!

On the crowdfunding side, we have hit our first goal of $2,500 thanks to many generous donors! Since our first goal was attained, we have raised the fundraising target to $5,000. The increase in fundraising dollars will allow us to make needed updates in areas we didn't think we'd be able to work on this year - such as safety equipment. Now that our fundraising is taking off, we have room to purchase new safety gear, such as fire suits and helmets (or, as we say in Baja, personality protectors).

We want to thank our current donors once again and hope that you will continue to share our campaign to help us reach our new goal.