Hello to all of our supporters.
My name is Kelson Sutherland and I am a senior MechE at New Mexico Tech. I am the leader of the Baja team this year and I am excited to be able to share with you what we have planned for this year. Joining me on the team this year are several distinguished engineering students:
SENIORS:
Mike Schmitz
David Smith
Josh Cañez
JUNIORS:
PJ Schmit
Owen Ozevedo
Jaymes English
Isaiah De Lacera
Chris Fredrick
Ryan Mier
Andre Littot
Kelsey Zimmmerman
Michael Baca
VOLUNTEERS:
Sean Coss
Connor Riley
Trey Koehler
Brandon Jaynes
Cary Bronson
Brian Molley
And of course a thank you to our advisers for keeping the team going
Dr. Nadir Yilmaz
Hollis Dinwiddie
I'll start off with a bit of background information. Last year the team rebuilt an old vehicle and took it to competition in Bellingham WA. The team placed 48th overall in this competition. This was not only a disappointment to the team but also a poor reflection on the quality of education provided by NMT. The vehicle itself was stunning. It was easily one of the most capable vehicles to ever come out of this program and that showed at competition. Out of 87 competitors we placed 13th in acceleration, 19th in the hill climb, and 12th in the rock crawl (8th if our faster run was scored). However, these small glimpses of success were not enough to place us well in the competition. Repeated tech inspections, a 0 score on our cost report, poor design scores and a failed endurance race got us to where we are. 362.82 points out of 1000--36.3%--a failing grade. Fast forward to August and we are left a question. How do we make a winning car win? That really is the problem.
Because we are pleased with the overall performance of the car we are sticking with the same frame as last year but working on digging that last bit of performance out of the vehicle. The last bit that will take us from a top 20 contender to a top 15 finisher. Last years car performed well, despite it being 120+lbs heavier then some of the lightest cars. Our redesign strategy for this year is driven mostly by weight reduction. We will be going through every system of the car in an attempt to bring the total weight down to 350lbs (a 18.6% reduction). In order to achieve this goal we will be implementing light weight materials such as carbon fiber, airplane fabric, and aluminum where steel is not necessary. We feel confidently that we have the know how to build a top competing car and forever establish NMT Baja as a major player in these competitions.
The other main focus for this year will be to improve our design processes. Since this team is run as a design clinic course, every member should be coming out of the program with a better understanding of how to design, fabricate, test and verify a real world project. We will be implementing better design criteria, more meticulous documentation and actual testing and verification of our designs.
I hope that you are happy with what you are reading hear and that you are on board with our program this year. We could really use the input of former team members and help from anybody who is willing. Especially so in the form of monetary donations. Those of you who have been on the team know how frustrating it can be to have so many good ideas and be cut short because of funding. The donation section of this web site will be working within the next week so please give whatever you can to help. Thank you.
Keep checking back here for more updates and please check in on the Alumni Forums regularly. It will benefit the team greatly to have some interaction with our community of supporters.
My name is Kelson Sutherland and I am a senior MechE at New Mexico Tech. I am the leader of the Baja team this year and I am excited to be able to share with you what we have planned for this year. Joining me on the team this year are several distinguished engineering students:
SENIORS:
Mike Schmitz
David Smith
Josh Cañez
JUNIORS:
PJ Schmit
Owen Ozevedo
Jaymes English
Isaiah De Lacera
Chris Fredrick
Ryan Mier
Andre Littot
Kelsey Zimmmerman
Michael Baca
VOLUNTEERS:
Sean Coss
Connor Riley
Trey Koehler
Brandon Jaynes
Cary Bronson
Brian Molley
And of course a thank you to our advisers for keeping the team going
Dr. Nadir Yilmaz
Hollis Dinwiddie
I'll start off with a bit of background information. Last year the team rebuilt an old vehicle and took it to competition in Bellingham WA. The team placed 48th overall in this competition. This was not only a disappointment to the team but also a poor reflection on the quality of education provided by NMT. The vehicle itself was stunning. It was easily one of the most capable vehicles to ever come out of this program and that showed at competition. Out of 87 competitors we placed 13th in acceleration, 19th in the hill climb, and 12th in the rock crawl (8th if our faster run was scored). However, these small glimpses of success were not enough to place us well in the competition. Repeated tech inspections, a 0 score on our cost report, poor design scores and a failed endurance race got us to where we are. 362.82 points out of 1000--36.3%--a failing grade. Fast forward to August and we are left a question. How do we make a winning car win? That really is the problem.
Because we are pleased with the overall performance of the car we are sticking with the same frame as last year but working on digging that last bit of performance out of the vehicle. The last bit that will take us from a top 20 contender to a top 15 finisher. Last years car performed well, despite it being 120+lbs heavier then some of the lightest cars. Our redesign strategy for this year is driven mostly by weight reduction. We will be going through every system of the car in an attempt to bring the total weight down to 350lbs (a 18.6% reduction). In order to achieve this goal we will be implementing light weight materials such as carbon fiber, airplane fabric, and aluminum where steel is not necessary. We feel confidently that we have the know how to build a top competing car and forever establish NMT Baja as a major player in these competitions.
The other main focus for this year will be to improve our design processes. Since this team is run as a design clinic course, every member should be coming out of the program with a better understanding of how to design, fabricate, test and verify a real world project. We will be implementing better design criteria, more meticulous documentation and actual testing and verification of our designs.
I hope that you are happy with what you are reading hear and that you are on board with our program this year. We could really use the input of former team members and help from anybody who is willing. Especially so in the form of monetary donations. Those of you who have been on the team know how frustrating it can be to have so many good ideas and be cut short because of funding. The donation section of this web site will be working within the next week so please give whatever you can to help. Thank you.
Keep checking back here for more updates and please check in on the Alumni Forums regularly. It will benefit the team greatly to have some interaction with our community of supporters.