July 13, 2005
Baja racers conquer course
NMC team takes 24th place in brutal four-hour endurance race
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Starting from a 10 horsepower Briggs & Stratton Engine, Northwestern Michigan College automotive and engineering students built a vehicle from the ground up that did them proud.
Last September, a team of students raised money and secured donations; this spring, they designed and built their vehicle. Two members of the team, Chris Coughlin and Clay Kessner, raced the resulting vehicle last month in the Society of Automotive Engineers Midwest Mini Baja Competition near Dayton, Ohio.
Their one-of-a-kind creation took a respectable 24th place out of 140 competitors in the grueling four-hour endurance race. More than two thirds of the entrants did not finish the race at all, many of the vehicles unable to make one lap. The event took place on a professional motor cross track and the course reflected this with many moguls and drops to challenge their vehicle's construction and design.
Unexpected developments provided high excitement on occasion for Chris Coughlin and Kessner. At one point in the endurance event, the steering wheel came off while Coughlin was driving. He quickly snapped it back on and continued making laps. Another time the throttle stuck while Kessner was in the driver's seat and, after racing too fast around the course, he barreled into the pit unable to slow down.
Student teams from universities and colleges around the world also drove their vehicles in hill climb, maneuverability, sled pull and acceleration events.
"They beat out some pretty good schools, including Virginia Tech, University of Tennessee and Northern Michigan," said Jim Coughlin, an engineering instructor at NMC and one of two faculty advisors for the project. "My expectations were that the car ran, passed the start line and passed the safety inspection - they well exceed that."
"Nobody expected a community college team in their first year to do so well," he added, noting it is unheard of that a first-year team's vehicle even finishes the race.
The students built the vehicle to very specific specs, put out every year by the SAE for one of three competitions nationwide. After the constant of the engine, which every team received, everything else was a design decision.
The NMC team designed and built the frame, brakes, suspension, body and drive train from scratch. The car had two speeds in forward and also a reverse as well as a unique brake system that Jim Coughlin said could be used in the industry.
The students also completed the vehicle on a fraction of the budget that other schools - veterans of the event for years - have.
"We did it for $7,500, a small budget, and most schools spend ten times what we spend," Jim Coughlin noted.
The team, which began with 25, winnowed down to ten and ended with a core of four members. They shoehorned design and construction in around their full-time school schedules and jobs.
"We had a total of a thousand man hours, combined into anything," said Chris Coughlin, who led the team on the computer aided design portion of the project.
They finished the car the night before they left for Dayton, loading it late that night on Jim Coughlin's snowmobile trailer. They crammed the trailer and truck with spare parts, materials and tools to fix any problems on the fly.
Safety was key to the competition and the NMC team passed the safety inspection with just two minor problems - another tribute to their design and construction.
Jim Coughlin attributes the team's success to each member's previous extensive experience with repairing ATVs and cars. The core of four students - Kessner, Coughlin, Carey Slater and Zach Edel - brought years of experience in all facets of automotive work.
"It's good to have that theoretical background but it's also good to have the practical application to see where both go hand in hand," noted Jerry Dobek, an NMC instructor who served as the automotive faculty advisor.