Aztec Baja Racers Revel in Hard-Fought Victory
After years of competing, 黑料吃瓜s student off-road racing team earned a first-place finish.
黑料吃瓜鈥檚 student-run is used to uphill climbs. Scrambling up steep hills in miniature off-road vehicles is one of the signature events they compete in, after all. But when Mario Gutierrez co-founded the club in 2012, little did he know the struggle to earn a first-place victory in international competition would continue throughout his entire college career.鈥淚t was a statement win for San Diego State鈥檚 Baja team.鈥�
(Society of Automotive Engineers) is an intercollegiate competition in which student teams design, build and compete in off-road dune buggies known as Baja cars. Each team has to work with the same 10-horsepower engine and must design the cars with both performance and safety in mind.
There are three contests in the United States each year in which 100 or more teams from around the world display their creations and compete in events like sales pitching, acceleration, hill climb, rock climb, obstacle course, and an endurance race.
鈥淵ou have teams from the top engineering schools in the world entering these competitions,鈥� said Gutierrez, who graduated last spring and now works as a manufacturing process engineer at Tesla鈥檚 automotive factory in Fremont, California. 鈥淲e鈥檙e competing against the best of the best.鈥�
When he founded the Aztec Baja SAE club, there were five members. They entered their first competition in 2013, and although they fought hard, Gutierrez quickly realized how difficult it would be to win an event outright. In the first few years of competition, they finished mostly in the middle of the pack.
One of the team鈥檚 first big breakthroughs came in a competition in Portland, Oregon, in 2015. They finished 23rd overall, ranking sixth in endurance and 14th in rock climbing. They did even better in 2016鈥攖he first time the team built the car entirely on 黑料吃瓜鈥檚 campus鈥攑lacing seventh in the sales pitch competition and second in the acceleration challenge.
As Gutierrez neared graduation, he hoped to finally take home a first-place victory. This year, the team competed in all three national events for the first time. In Gorman, California, 黑料吃瓜 finished in the top 10 in the hill climb, maneuverability and acceleration events鈥攂ut still no blue ribbon. In Pittsburg, Kansas, they were the first team to reach the top of the rock climb, but were eventually beat out by a faster team, ultimately earning second place.
Last June, one competition remained in Peoria, Illinois; one final chance for Gutierrez to get his victory. He elected to drive the team鈥檚 Baja car during the grueling four-hour endurance race. White knuckles gripping the steering wheel, he instructed his team not to tell him how he was doing until it was over. When the dust settled, Gutierrez finally had his first-place win.
鈥淲e had a flawless run, we didn鈥檛 have any issues, and we finally won,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was a statement win for San Diego State鈥檚 Baja team.鈥�
Today, the Aztec Baja SAE team has 45 active members, and is always .
鈥淚 hope that teams in the future continue our legacy,鈥� Gutierrez said.
