 The UWM Baja SAE team overcame interstate travel, thunderstorms, technical rulings and mechanical breakdowns just to get their car to the starting grid of the Baja SAE International competition held this Memorial Day weekend in Kansas, and all they got to show for it was one very muddy baja racer.
Composed of 11 mechanical engineering students, the team's efforts paid off as their car survived a four-hour endurance race with no mechanical issues. Four different drivers completed 30 laps of a highly technical, obstacle-filled and most of all muddy 1.5 mile course, placing UWM 16th in the endurance event out of a field of 87 cars from every corner of the U.S. and countries including Canada, Mexico, Brazil and France.
Sunday's endurance event was a high note, but the race weekend very nearly ended early for the UWM team. After driving through heavy rains to southeastern Kansas—just miles from the site of a devastating tornado in Joplin, Missouri the week before—the team learned on Friday that race officials had interpreted frame construction rules differently than in years past, meaning their car could not pass technical inspection.
 As more thunderstorms gathered, the team cleared room in the back of their rented race hauler and prepared new steel tubes to add to the car's frame. Jon-David Schuetze put his speed welding skills to the test, at one point having teammates balance the car on its nose while he stood under it and attached new frame members.
The success of passing inspection on Saturday morning proved short-lived, as after completing a final check of the brakes the UWM car suffered a total loss of power to its wheels.
Driveline specialist Kyle Neubauer dove into the car's transmission and led a group effort to rebuild it that used every tool the team brought along—and then some—and continued through the afternoon and into the evening hours. With no spare parts for the gearbox on hand, the team had to proceed with both caution and determination during the repair that ultimately saw the car back up and running by sunset.
 While much of Saturday saw the UWM car stuck in the paddock, other teams competed in dynamic events that tested the limits of each car's acceleration, suspension, maneuverability and more. In addition to these events, each entry is judged subjectively for design, and reports submitted by the teams for costs and design intentions are reviewed.
UWM finished the 2011 Baja SAE Kansas event 62nd overall out of 100 total entrants, since the scores of every event are taken into account. That number, while disappointing on paper, fails to reflect the tenacity and drive displayed by every team member over the whole weekend so that UWM could compete at all. The UWM team is encouraged by another strong showing in an endurance event and is already preparing for their next competition this fall.
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