UW-Madison Baja SAE roughs it at Baja Backwoods Challenge

A weekend competing against other schools, camping under the stars, racing off-road motor vehicles, and learning new engineering skills, just begins to paint the picture the UW-Madison Baja SAE team experienced at the Backwoods Challenge in October. Hosted by UW-Stout, this weekend competition entails 2-main events – Car Carry and an Endurance Race. UW-Madison represented with 49 baja SAE members, 5 baja alumni, and 3 vehicles (Dash-Two, Moodoo, and Senderella) to compete and cheer on the team.

Event Highlights:

• Placing 4^th in the Car Carry event, which involves teams lifting their vehicle with the driver inside, removing all four wheels, carrying the car 15 feet, reinstalling the tires, lowering the car, and completing a lap.
• During the 4-hour endurance race around a 1.2-mile track filled with obstacles, wooden sections, and jumps, the team had 45 members drive between their 3 cars. An outstanding success for the team!

The Backwoods Challenge is not only a great bonding opportunity, but it also allows members to put the skills and knowledge they are learning in the classroom to the test. Throughout the competition, each vehicle faced a variety of maintenance issues but offered great opportunities for new and old members to make repairs under pressure.

To learn more about the team’s experience and follow along for more updates as they prepare for their competition in the spring, follow Wisconsin Baja on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Big thanks to Nick Wendt, Senior in Mechanical Engineering and Baja SAE President, for providing the photos, competition details, and experience insights.