Welcome
Welcome the the University of Texas-Pan American Baja Racing web page. This is the online home of the Engineering Departments famed Baja Racing program. We are a student centered organization who use the skills and knowledge gained here at UTPA to build a new car each and every year. We build, test and competitively race a miniature racecar based loosely on the famous Baja Offroad racecars. Our singular goal is to outperform our previous years acheivements and to learn and gain experience in the field of engineering.
For those who have recently had a tour of our lab and got their picture taken you can access it from our Gallery tab or from the ‘Tours’ menu to the right. –>
Check out our 2010 montage from this last years competition. We’re working on getting it embedded into this page but for now you can see it here.
How to be a part of the team.
Lately we have been generating a lot of interest in the team and the requirements to join, below are a few Q&A’s to help any prospective members decide if they have what it takes to join the team.
Q: Do I have to be a Mechanical Engineering major to join?
A: No, the team is open to any student from any major who is willing to put in the work required of a team member.
Q: What time commitments are there?
A: The Team is a very time intensive group, we meet every saturday in the Engineering High Bay at 10:00am. Unless testing will be occurring in which case we meet at the designated location. Usual ending times are around 5-6 pm. As competition time approaches these times may extend greatly in order to have everything ready.
Q: Do I need to be handy or proficient with tools and machines to join?
A: No, all that is required is a willingness to learn and the time to learn it in. We can teach you how to do anything necessary to work on the cars.
Q: Is there anything besides turning a wrench that the team does?
A: Absolutely, the SAE BAJA Competition is based on a real life engineering challenge. There are numerous reports and design sheets at the competition and before the competition arrives.
Q: Who do I contact for specifics on joining the Team.
A: You should contact our team captain Sergio Ortega at svortegajr@yahoo.com
or contact one of our recruiters Leo Lopez at lopezleo35@yahoo.com
or Ernesto Ortega at eortegaiii@gmail.com
