The Baja team of Cyclone Racing is working to take their competitiveness to a new level this year.

The team took second place at the Backwoods Baja Competition at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, which ran from Oct. 26 to Nov. 2.

The Baja team puts together a 10 horse-power Baja car each year that they use to compete with other schools.

Blake Wulf, sophomore in agricultural engineering, said each school uses the same engine and has to follow certain standards, but each of the teams has to figure out how to make the vehicle affordable, durable and sustainable.

“The main part of the business side of competition is to sell the car as if it was going to be mass produced,” Wulf said. 

Wulf said that for design aspect of the competition, experts go through and look at the car to make sure it fits those standards and abides by the rules of the competition.

The car then go through a course in which the car is tested on its sustainability, in which there are obstacles that are basically meant to destroy the vehicle, Wulf said.

“The last thing that it is test on is endurance, which it goes around a track that is around a mile and half long and for a set period of time, and it is just getting the amount of laps in,” Wulf said.

The car that was used for this past competition was actually the Baja car that was built for last year’s season, Wulf said.

This year’s technical director Andrew Tauke, junior in industrial technology, has high hopes for this year’s car and competition.

“This is the first year that Iowa State’s team has signed up for three competitions and there are only three Baja competitions every year,” Tauke said. 

The competitions will be in El Paso, Texas, from April 24 to 27; Pittsburg, Kan., from May 22 to 25; and Imperial, Ill., from June 4 to 7.

Before this year, Iowa State has only signed up for two of the competitions the past two years, and before that, the team would only participate in one of the competitions, Tauke said.

“I would like to finish at the top ten at all of the competitions and that take home at least one first place trophy,” Tauke said. 

Zachary Verbeck, project director and co-control teams leader and junior in mechanical engineering, feels the same excitement for this year’s season.

“I know a lot of people are really excited about us being able to go to three competitions. I can’t stress that enough, that we’ve never done that,” Verbeck said. 

Verbeck said that he got involved with the Baja team his freshmen year as way to get hands on experience.

Verbeck encourages newcomers and said “to just be consistent about coming to the general meetings and also showing up to the shop on Saturdays.”