Ah, driving. The wind whipping through your hair, heading out to wherever you please. The dirt flying around you as you speed over that last hill towards the finish line, cutting off that jerk you met earlier from Ohio State.
Though that last joy may be less well known, a team of students here at Hopkins is living the dream of competitive racing.
For four years, the Hopkins Baja racing team has pursued its three-fold goal: To build a small racing buggy themselves, to race their buggy against other schools and to have fun racing when most students only dream about it.
Two sophomore mechanical engineers, Bobby Ng and Dave Chow, founded the Baja racing team with the goal of building and racing their own race car. Though it took some time to become competitive, last year the team placed 22nd overall out of 75 different university teams from around the country.
Twenty-five students comprise this year's team. All are freshmen or sophomores, except one junior and one senior. The two co-captains are Avik De and Adam Baumgartner, both sophomore mechanical engineers. The team is comprised of primarily mechanical engineers, but other majors such as physics and biomedical engineering are also represented. Though most of the current team is engineering-related, students from any major are more than welcome to join. No experience is required, just a passion for motor sports.
The racing league is organized by the International Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). All teams must come from universities, and all must build their own cars. The Hopkins team, due to time and financial concerns, buys the transmission and engine, then builds everything else themselves. You can often find them in the Latrobe machine shop, welding the various components together into a final racing machine.
Building the car is far from the best part. According to Baumgartner, "The best part about the racing team is when you finally get to drive the car. To see the car come alive at the end is really satisfying."
The biggest concern about racing in a car built by students, one of which the administration needs constant reassurance, is safety. Racing is seen as a dangerous and reckless activity, but in this case, that couldn't be farther from the truth. The SAE has a demanding safety inspection that occurs before each event, and if, for some reason, the car is deemed to have any kind of problem, it is removed form the race. All drivers must wear four-point safety harnesses, and helmets, and must have quick access to an engine kill switch if they run into any problems. The frame is very strong, and all drivers are trained to exit the vehicle in less than five seconds, in case anything goes wrong with the engine. If you can't get out of the vehicle in that time at competition, then your results are disqualified.
Combine all this with the fact that the vehicle currently tops out at around 35 m.p.h., suddenly, crossing Charles Street during rush hour seems dangerous.
Last year, co-captain Avik flipped the car during competition, and, according to him, the worst thing about it was having to wait for the officials to inspect the frame to make sure there was no structural damage. Avik walked away without a bruise.
One of the things that can sink a young team like Hopkins' is the financial demand. The SAE mandates that all cars must be rebuilt at least every other year. Though parts from the car can be salvaged, all of the main pieces are rebuilt or bought new by the team each year. This alone amounts to roughly $9,000 per year. Because Hopkins' team is relatively young, there are also design improvements to be made, which can also be expensive.
The team receives funds from several different sources. The Society of Engineering Alumni is the biggest source of money for the Baja Team. Individual families such as the Ng family also donate money.
Last year Hopkins competed in two different tournaments, one in Rochester, N.Y. and the other in Ocala, Fla. It was in Ocala that the team placed 22nd overall. The placing comes from a point system that takes into account a variety of different aspects such as design merit, a cost analysis report and events like an endurance race and an acceleration event. Hopkins Baja's best showing came in the acceleration event, where they placed seventh out of the entire field.
Another interesting aspect of the Ocala competition is the amphibious portion. Cars must be built with removable flotation devices that allow them to float in very deep water, and the wheel system must be designed to act as propellers for the car.
