The Cyclone Off-Road Racing team is boiling over with passion and excitement for their next big competition in June. As a branch of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International club on campus, they are competing against over 100 other teams from around the world at the Baja SAE Illinois event.

To compete at Baja SAE events, students build off-road vehicles capable of facing grueling trials designed to push the single-seat buggies to their breaking point. These trials are broken down into two categories: static events and dynamic events.

Static events test the students’ knowledge and ability to follow the rules with a sales presentation, design presentation, tech inspection and cost report. The dynamic events are where tires and drivers endure a rock crawl, hillclimb, acceleration course, maneuverability course and a four-hour, wheel-to-wheel endurance race.

In past years, Cyclone Off-Road Racing was able to compete in three official competitions a year, but due to an influx of teams looking to join the high octane action, SAE International tweaked the registration rules. This year, teams are guaranteed the ability to register in one competition but must wait at least two weeks to sign up to another. With all of the slots filling up so quickly, the Cyclone Off-Road Racing team could only manage to enter in the Baja SAE Illinois event.

“Those hundred spots for certain competitions fill up in under two minutes,” said Brandon Jaeger, the safety director for Cyclone Off-Road Racing and vice president of the SAE International club.

With only one competition on the schedule, the team is doing everything they can to have a top finish. In the second semester of the school year, they are rebuilding the vehicle from last year with some new design improvements created in the first semester. They are repackaging the steering, braking and pedal systems as well as returning the suspension and designing their own steering rack.

“We completely rebuild the entire vehicle every year,” said Jonathan Patton, the technical director for Cyclone Off-Road Racing. “The vehicle is made new every year with some small design changes or sometimes larger changes.”

The last two years have been a roller coaster for the Cyclone Off-Road Racing team. In the 2017-2018 season, there was an issue during transportation resulting in a fire that cut the vehicle’s life short and prevented the team from competing at all. Last year, however, the team made a triumphant return, placing 15th overall out of 213 teams from across the globe.

“We are teetering on the edge of greatness,” said Jack Krause, senior member of Cyclone Off-Road Racing. “We have a lot of good members, and we’re definitely a good team in terms of where we sit.” This year, the team is hoping to push even further to reach the next level.

Cyclone Off-Road Racing is always looking for new members to help them with their crusade to the top. Students of all majors are welcome to join. For more information on how to get involved, email the team at [email protected].