Race Report

Midwest Mini Baja, 5 - 8 June 2003, Troy, Ohio

The Endurance Race at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Midwest Mini Baja Competition, 5-8 June in Troy, Ohio, was washed out by thunderstorms, washing away the hopes of the Auburn University Mini Baja Team (AUMB) as well. AUMB started well by winning the Design Report Event (in a field of 143 cars – the biggest SAE Collegiate Design Series Competition ever). The Team then chose mud tires, gambling that the resulting reduced performance in earlier Short Events would be more than made up for if it rained for the later Endurance Race, as predicted. Rain it did, but way too much, and the Race had to be cancelled shortly before the halfway point. AUMB placed 29^th overall in the foreshortened Competition.

The Auburn Lady Tigers Mini Baja Team (ALTMB) became the first Ladies Baja Team ever to compete in more than one Competition in a single year (the Team ran in East last April), learning what it takes to pick themselves up after that supreme car-building and racing effort and then give it all one more time. ALTMB also shone in Design Report, with an excellent 8^th place ranking. Following a strategy similar to AUMB’s, ALTMB was also caught by the cancellation before they could make their points, and wound up 39^th.

This year, with two months between the East and Midwest Competitions, both AUMB and ALTMB had the opportunity to rewrite their reports and wring out their cars. AUMB tweaked their East 1^st place Design Report a little and repeated the win (with 94 points out of 100), while ALTMB improved vastly to place 8^th with 90 points. AUMB and ALTMB both rated 28 points out of 30 in Cost Report. AUMB made 8.16 points out of 20 in estimated Production Cost, while ALTMB made 8.19.

The Dayton Section of SAE runs a well-organized Competition when they host Midwest every other year (alternating with Milwaukee). This year Safety Inspection and Design Judging were allowed two days instead of the usual one (owing to the unprecedented field of 143 entries, with 123 actually appearing on site, ready to race). This made for a much more relaxed atmosphere, with plenty of time to go to the test track.

Midwest’s system of on-site Design Judging calls for focused assessment of each of eight specific design areas by two judges in each area. The organizers had to find 16 qualified Mini Baja Design Judges, dedicated enough to objectively view each and every car over a period of only two days. A daunting task. AUMB made 23 points (out of 30) in originality, 20.25 (of 30) in brakes/suspension/steering, 14 (of 15) in craftsmanship, 10.4 (of 15) in ergonomics, 11.5 (of 15) in producability, 11.5 (of 15) in powertrain, 13.3 (of 15) in serviceability, and 13.5 (of 15 for 4^th place) in structure. That all adds up to 117.45 out of 150 in on-site Design Judging. Total Static score (Production Cost, Cost Report, Design Report, and Design Judging) for AUMB was 247.61 out of 300 for 4^th place.

ALTMB made 26.5 points (out of 30) in originality, 18.8 (of 30) in brakes/suspension/steering, 8.75 (of 15) in craftsmanship, 9.1 (of 15) in ergonomics, 9.75 (of 15) in producability, 9.5 (of 15) in powertrain, 12.8 (of 15) in serviceability, and 8.5 (of 15) in structure for a Design Judging total of 103.7. ALTMB made a Total Static score of 229.89 for 23^rd. (Up to just this year, Total Static had been a handicap for Auburn Baja instead of the advantage that it is now).

Safety Inspection is no longer scored in Mini Baja, but the inspection is just as rigorous as always (in 27 years of Mini Baja competition, there has never been a major injury – the purpose of Safety Inspection is to keep it that way). ALTMB lined up early and made it through with only a short deficiency list. Minor stuff – guards and covers and the like. AUMB put it off to the second day, and was caught only on the incorrect position of their positive steering stops. Also an easy fix.

Early completion of Design and Safety gave both Teams plenty of time to exercise on the practice track, thoughtfully provided by the Organizers. Everyone had some practice in the fine art of driving moguls, and AUMB had an Aha! Experience relating to suspension setup for good jumping (to be featured in the 04 car).

At the end of the two Static days, before the dawn of the two Dynamic days, both Teams had a decision to make. Consider:

1) Mini Baja rules do not allow any part on the car to be changed once Dynamic Events get underway (the next morning). Exact replacements could be substituted for worn or broken parts, but the tire model, drive ratio, and everything else had to remain fixed throughout both days of Dynamic Events (Short Events and the Endurance Race).

2) In Troy, Midwest Mini Baja is located at Kenworthy’s Motocross Park. Motocross courses are made of mounded-up dirt, and turn very slippy in the rain. Baja cars require mud tires to climb any incline under these conditions. These mud tires will not perform as well as other tire styles on a dry track.

3) The weather forecast suggested rain sometime between the evening after Short Events and the morning before the Endurance Race.

Both Teams considered the trade-offs and probabilities and chose to accept a dry-track performance penalty by using the slow mud tires in the next day’s Short Events, gambling that there would be enough rain to wet the track for the Endurance Race on the last day. Then they would get the points back by chugging the mud in Endurance.

And as predicted, Short Events did not go well. Matt Damato pulled everything he could out of AUMB for 36.1 points (out of 50) in Acceleration and 30 points (out of 50) in Top Speed. Matt came back for 41.24 points (of 50) in Hill Climb. Taylor Owens worked hard for 30.86 points (of 50) in Weight Pull. Maneuverability made good use of the site to create a very challenging course. Grant Roth flew through it, generally acclaimed the fastest so far in line until he hit a hole, bounced off-course, and had to DNF. That put the pressure on for his second run, and necessitated a conservative approach in order to get some points. Grant was smooth and controlled on the next try, brilliantly negotiating the 360, and racked up 91.93 points. A great performance under pressure. The mud tire penalty had been paid with a Short Events total of only 230.1 (31^st in the field), but overall AUMB sat 14^th going into Endurance, and in good striking range. The forecast at this point called for rain at the next midday.

ALTMB also took their lumps in the Short Events. Cathy Hill made a very creditable 40.9 (of 50) in Acceleration and 36.5 (of 50) in Top Speed. Captain Renee Smeya rolled up the Hill Climb for 37.19 points (of 50). Rachel Achorn and Liz McCollum went one run apiece on Weight Pull, yielding 37.89 points. Angela Morris also ran into difficulties on the first Maneuverability run, but dealt with it and put up 59.93 points in her second run. ALTMB took 212.4 Short Event points, and stood 36^th going into Endurance.

With good weather so far, and excellent organization of the seemingly infinite number of competing cars, there was actually time after the Short Events to go back to the practice track again so that the Endurance Race drivers could brush up. It was a good thing for ALTMB, because the steering column burst into pieces on a mogul face plant, and all agreed that this would have happened in the first Endurance lap had the Team not practiced. So all ALTMB had to do was rebuild the column, in the paddock, the night before Endurance, using scrounged parts, and make it stronger than it originally was. SOP for Baja Teams. ALTMB had a new pinion and spacer, got a shaft from Pittsburgh State (that’s in Kansas), a rod end from Virginia Tech, used ETS’s drill press and Tig welder, and borrowed a drill bit from RIT. All this to make an ironclad steering column and still get 2½ hours of sleep. The Baja spirit (both in helping and in doing) is magnificent.

The next morning was spent in final preparations and course walks before beginning the monumental task of gridding all the cars for the Endurance Race, pausing for an impressive panoramic portrait of the entire field. The Race got away about 11:30, and was a series of fits and starts as the huge field tried to squeeze itself onto the course. Gridding was by Acceleration score, and so ALTMB and AUMB were both well back in traffic, though the four-hour Race is long, and there is time to catch up. Right away there were problems. Cars passing cars on moguls as the traffic sorted itself out lead to yellow flags as cars flipped and slid off the course, backing up traffic. Several times the engines were shut down while nasty messes were unsnarled (including one in which a jumping car landed on top of another – Baja cars have to be tough!). After one of these shutdowns, AUMB’s pull cord snapped on restart. Of all the things. AUMB had to go to the paddock to repair. ALTMB was ordered into the hot (refueling) pits at one point, although we never did find out why. The stop was unscheduled, with no one there to receive the car, but Tennessee Tech had the great courtesy to assist with refueling. After waiting a bit, ALTMB went back out on the track.

A shower passed through with the predicted result. The track surface turned to goo. The formerly bright, multi-colored racecars very quickly looked like they had all just driven through a chocolate paint spray booth. The tires chosen for dry conditions (by about ⅔ of the field) started to fail on the short hills, leaving cars flailing away against the goo. There is a very basic, human desire to help Baja cars in trouble, and Judges and volunteers ran out to push the cars forward. Unfortunately, with such a great many of the cars in trouble, the result was gridlock. The helpers were themselves barely able to stand, and the cars they helped often ran into trouble at the base of the next hill. The shower stopped, though the mud remained. Looking for a solution, the Organizers rerouted the course to avoid some of the more problematic hills, but struggled with the biggest hill on the course (the Hill Climb Event hill), for which there was no way around. And then the second shower hit.

The second shower was longer and more intense. The cars were shut down and left on the track. Drivers were sent back to the paddocks. After it stopped, the best forecast held that a third, even more intense shower with hail was on its way, and so with great reluctance and emotion, with the course deteriorating and dangerous weather en route, the Organizers called the race after 1 hour and 39 minutes of race time into the 4 hour Race. The cars were retrieved, and as the haulers left the paddock area, a beautiful sunshine broke out. To the fury of all present, the third shower never came.

AUMB ran well in Endurance, and never failed on a muddy hill. Lap on lap Darrell Krueger got a little bit further ahead of one semi-identifiable mud blob (it turned out to be Purdue), eventually running clean away from them. Purdue managed 367.6 points out of 400 in the foreshortened Event, while AUMB got 254.6. That was the cost of the broken pull-cord. (Alright, if you must know, 113 more points would have made AUMB 7^th overall, but remember that every worthy Baja Team is going to have a plausibly valid entry in the ‘what if’ game.)

Brittany Consuegra of ALTMB tackled the Endurance course in fine style, running strong and consistently, and also just trucking up those muddy hills. ALTMB got to be a crowd favorite for their demonstration of competitive grit. Everyone on the site knew where car 17 was. Brittany’s trip to the pits, plus a vision problem (a course full of flying mud, leaking goggles, and not enough tear-offs) kept her down to the same 254.6 points as AUMB.

The ride home was quiet. Darrell Krueger, AUMB Chief Engineer, observed that the season just didn’t seem over. There was no sense of closure after the abandoned Endurance Race. Emily Johnson, ALTMB Chief Engineer, sighed that the car had been “destroyed” by its competitive effort at East, but was now being brought home all ready to go out and race again. AUMB Captain Garon Griffiths, completing his 12^th Mini Baja Competition, bemoaned ending his Baja career with a whimper instead of a bang. ALTMB Captain Renee Smeya just cried.

At home, we got the scales out. Who knows how much mud fell off while putting the cars into the trailer and driving from Ohio back to Alabama, but that night, on the ground in Auburn, AUMB was still carrying 90 pounds of mud in the cockpit and caked everywhere on the car. ALTMB topped that with 93.

Overall, it was a good year for Auburn Baja. Some good engineers turned into great ones, and two fine cars were designed and built, although we got a bit buried under the slings and arrows of competitive misfortune this time around. AUMB’s 03 car just ran away from the 02 car in practice, and 02 was a 4^th place East car. ALTMB built a very competitive entry (running faster than AUMB in many Events), and now has a great concept to build on and refine.

Congratulations and best wishes are in order for ALTMB’s 04 Co-Captains, Brittany Consuegra and Cathy Hill. Cathy and Brittany will work on refined packaging and improved handling. AUMB04 will be under the highly competent leadership of Co-Captains Darrell Krueger and Taylor Owens. The emphasis for AUMB04 will be weight reduction – on the order of 100 pounds.

AUMB salutes its distinguished graduates: Jeremy Belcher, Matt Damato, and Garon Griffiths (Mr. Baja), all receiving the College of Engineering’s Certificate in Automotive Engineering. ALTMB bids a fond farewell and best wishes to Lia Almeida, Emily Johnson, Angela Morris, and Becky Pugh (all going to graduate school save Angela, who will wrangle roustabouts for Schlumberger).

Next year, AUMB and ALTMB will make the Great Trek to Montreal for the East Competition, and then head to Milwaukee for Midwest. In 2005 East will open a new site, hosted by the Rochester Institute of Technology, and Midwest will return to Troy. And in 2006, Mini Baja East will come to the plains of Auburn for the very first time. We’ll be calling you.