Baja NOW Weekly Update: Week of January 20th
Welcome to Baja NOW, where Iowa Baja posts weekly updates on the Iowa Baja team from both Baja Laboratory and any events attended by Baja. To receive notifications when a new Baja Now is posted, follow us on Facebook and Twitter at @iowabaja.
It’s the end of the first week of the Spring semester and baja is in full swing! This semester is going to be focused on getting the New Car (51) ready for Nationals in California. But we also have a couple fun events coming up that we wanted to share with you:
1) Iowa Baja in Carver Hawkeye Arena
We are excited to get an amazing opportunity to show off Baja in Carver Hawkeye Area before the Iowa vs Maryland Wrestling Meet on February 8th at 5:30 pm. This is going to be kids night, so 18 & under get in for free! We will be on the concourse, and will let you know where as the event gets closer so join the facebook event for updates! We are excited to see you and will have a photo booth set up to get your picture taken in The Patriot.
Mitch Evens working to get the Patriot ready for Carver Hawkeye Area.
2) Michigan Tech: Blizzard Baja
To gear up for Michigan Tech, members were tuning up 33, 48, 88.
48 got a new seat to replace the cloth one that is no longer allowed at competitions.
Spencer Van Dorn cutting sides out of seat for seatbelts to replace cloth seat in 48.
33 required a little more work after the beating it took at Stout and on the test site. Carson Kruse rebuilt a lower arm for the 5 link suspension that was bent. Mitch Evens welded in new tabs to mount the gear box in a different position to compensate for the new gear design after last years nationals failure.
Carson Kruse working on 33’s suspension.
88 is waiting on a new output shaft that we are excited to have Reliable Machine building for us. It was also fitted with a new seat.
3) Baja Nationals: Gorman California (May 16th - 19th)
51 is the new car for this year, and designs are becoming a reality this month! The frame is getting close to completion, the body panels are being made, and the firewall design is being finalized. In the coming weeks we will announce the date of the big reveal (unveiling of the car in the Iowa Engineering Building)!
Body panels being created for 51 on new frame.
In the office Kayla Denson was teaching Dan Mueller about the cost report. The introduction of the new system last year was a bit challenging to figure out and together they will make sure it is up to date and accurate after a few mistakes were caught in an audit at Naitonals.
Dan and Kayla looking over the cost report.
Meanwhile the brake team was finalizing their design and meshing it with the full assembly CAD model. Once all the designs are added to the model we will be able to run a full analysis on the mechanisms and FEA. This will be included in the nationals design report and presentation to validate this years designs.
Paulina Kroczak modeling brake system with approval from Rob Pohren.