Volunteers needed for Baja SAE Rochester off road competition in June

Off-road racing is back at Rochester Institute of Technology as the university will host, and compete against, 100 collegiate racecar teams from around the world at the 2019 Baja SAE Rochester World Challenge June 6-9. This is the seventh time RIT has hosted one of SAE’s Collegiate Design Series competitions. The Rochester event takes place at the university and at Hogback Hill Motocross Track in Palmyra, N.Y.

Over the four days, volunteers are needed in a variety of areas from judging sales and design events to on-the-field course workers. Volunteers of different levels of experience can register online for one or more of the days and a variety of jobs. For each of the days, possible responsibilities include:

Thursday, June 6—Team Arrival, Registration and Sales Presentation Judging: Welcome teams and provide logistical support for registration on site at the RIT Gordon Field House. Throughout the day, teams will make sales presentations to volunteer judges with industry experience, particularly in the areas of new product development and project management. Volunteers are also needed to manage parking and other set-up tasks.

Friday, June 7—Static Events: Technical Inspections, Design and Cost Presentation Judging: Teams undergo rigorous technical inspections of vehicles and systems and will present on these system designs; volunteer judges with experience in automotive systems and the design and development of vehicles are needed.

Saturday, June 8—Dynamic Events: Acceleration, Hill Climb, Maneuverability and Suspension: Teams continue technical and safety inspections of vehicles and systems at the field site: Hogback Hill Motocross; volunteers are needed for support, marshalling, recovery, field safety and management and logistics.

Sunday, June 9—4-Hour Endurance Race and Award Presentation: Teams complete the competition with a four-hour race at the field site: Hogback Hill Motocross; volunteers are needed for marshalling/flagging, recovery, field safety and logistics.

Baja SAE consists of competitions that simulate real-world engineering design projects in which engineering students design and build off-road vehicles that will survive the severe punishment of rough terrain—hill and rock climbs—acceleration and maneuverability challenges and a four-hour endurance race. The object of the competition is to provide SAE student members with a challenging project that involves the design, planning and manufacturing tasks found when introducing a new product to the consumer industrial market.

For more information about the event and volunteer opportunities, contact volunteer coordinators Steve Skurski at Steven.Skurski@raymondcorp.com or Nathan McKerley at ntm6986@rit.edu. Sponsorship opportunities are also available by contacting event coordinator Martin Gordon at megite@rit.edu.

About RIT Baja Racing

RIT’s Baja race team opens its season in Tennessee for a competition at Tennessee Tech April 11-14. They compete in California May 16-19 before returning to RIT and the Rochester event to defend their status as National Champions. Last year, RIT Baja Racing won the North American Championship and were presented with the prestigious Mike Schmidt Memorial Iron Team Award, with top event placements and performance in each of its three U.S. competitions.