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A trio of mechanical engineering majors won first place in the sled pull among 121 teams at the 2003 Society of Automotive Engineers Midwest Mini-Baja Competition June 5-8 in Dayton, Ohio.
Class of 2003 graduates Jonathan Elam of Naples, N.Y., Dane Brodber of Kingston, Jamaica, and Ryan Rubino of Brookline, Mass., constructed an off-road vehicle to survive the severe punishment of rough terrain. Their adviser for the project was Leonard Van Gulick, Matthew Baird Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
During the sled pull competition, a weighted sled is attached to the mini-baja vehicle and the weight on the sled moves forward as the vehicle advances on the track.
“The students were very well prepared,” says Steven Nesbit, associate professor and head of mechanical engineering. “I was quite pleased with their performance.”
The group also tied for seventh place in the cost report category and 11th in structure. Lafayette placed second overall among 10 colleges at the event; the other teams were fielded by universities and technical institutes. Lafayette finished 47th overall, or within the top 39 percent.
Nesbit believes the team would have done quite well in the endurance race, a four-hour competition that often sees most participants break down and drop out before the finish. Unfortunately, the race was cut short due to weather complications.
“They didn’t get a chance to show how rugged their design was,” he says. However, he notes that the students did go through the entire design process and learned a lot from it.
“They can tackle just about any engineering design problem that is presented to them at this point,” says Nesbit. “Even if the project is different, the process is the same, and now they also have the confidence to do a major project on their own and carry it through from start to finish. It’s a good place to be when you start your first job.”
“The project really provided the opportunity to apply the things we learned, and driving this car was a blast,” says Elam. He was so sure of his interest that he attended last year’s competition with the 2002 team.
Rather than building a vehicle from scratch, the students chose to improve upon the 2002 team’s model. For example, they tried to optimize the performance of the transmission. In preparation for the contest, they complete various cycles of physical testing as well as theoretical testing using engineering software.
Elam notes that the design course taught him a lot about project management.
“I learned that there are many tasks that need to be completed in a well developed project,” says Elam, a member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers and SAE. He also was a rower on Crew Club and served on its executive board as men’s team captain, vice president, and secretary. He was voted Most Valuable Oarsperson last year for doing the most for the team on and off the water. He also played intramural soccer and was a founding member of the Marquis Scholar executive board.