[6/1/2010]--The UMBC Baja team recently traveled 2956 miles to Bellingham, Washington to compete against 104 teams from around the world in UMBC’s first West race. With a previous 6th place finish in the recent South Carolina race, the team went into the event with high expectations. The team approached the challenging static events of Cost, Design, and Sales Presentation with a strategy of emphasizing our low cost and high performance car.

In addition, UMBC was one of only 34 teams to finish the difficult maneuverability course. The only event in which the car was outmatched was the rock crawl as UMBC’s design lacked the necessary reverse gear to navigate the course. Even with this handicap, a 37th place result was obtained. The team finished with an outstanding 8th place overall. While pleased with the overall and design scores, the final result was bittersweet as 3 hours and 30 minutes into the 4 hour Endurance race the team had taken over the lead in Endurance only to be sidelined with a component failure and, with limited supplies to fix the damaged component, fell to 14th for the Endurance finish. The team is excited to bring their new car to the last race of the season in Rochester, New York on June 10th and hopes to continue what has been the best season in UMBC Baja history.

Original Story: https://www.me.umbc.edu/node/132/edit