Big Finish for UA Mini Baja Team

July 2, 2004 — Major design changes to The University of Akron's student Mini Baja car paid off with a second-place finish in the Society of Automotive Engineers collegiate 2004 Midwest Mini Baja Competition held in Milwaukee, Wis.

The UA team finished only five points behind first-place SAE Brasil and two points ahead of third-place Auburn University, making UA the top ranking U.S. team in the international competition.

Team captain John Gibbs of Akron, attributes the team's performance to aggressively re-designing its car with both high and low transmission settings.

“The competition is designed with events based on speed and power,” says Gibbs. “In the past we have made a compromise between the two by using a single gear reduction. Now that we've designed our own two-speed manual transmission the car can be adapted for different situations.”

Dr. Richard Gross, associate professor of mechanical engineering and team adviser, agrees that design changes were the major factors in the second-place finish.

“The team worked hard to design a transmission to adapt to high speed and pulling heavy loads — two concepts that are opposite,” says Gross. “It also is interesting to note that four of this year's six team members are freshmen and will be returning next year.”

One hundred-twenty one teams competed in the four-day event. Points were awarded for vehicle design, cost analysis, static display, dynamic testing and performance over a rugged endurance course.

In addition to Gibbs, team members who traveled to Wisconsin are Michael Cohen of Dublin, Jeff DeWitt of Aurora, Frank Fotta of Wadsworth, and Ryan Piotrowski of Bainbridge Township.

Other team members include Thomas Dehnke of Massillon and Anthony Guld of Akron, who is serving in Iraq since January in a transportation unit. In Guld's honor, the team placed a “Good Luck Tony” decal on the front of the car.

UA's Midwest Mini Baja second-place finish adds to the college's dominance as a leading national SAE chapter. UA students have won more design competitions in the past decade than teams from any other Ohio university. Akron students have set world records and have captured 14 first-place Aero Design awards, six firsts in Mini Baja Competition and a 1999 first place in the prestigious Formula SAE Competition.

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