The Mini Baja project started at UNH in 1997, when a group of junior mechanical engineering students, on their own initiative, traveled to Montreal, Quebec to witness the 1997 Mini Baja East Competition. When these students returned to UNH for their senior year, they convinced the mechanical engineering department to participate in this competition. Three regional competitions are sponsored each year by SAE; East, Mid-West, and West.

These students formed the core of the first UNH mechanical engineering senior project to design and build a Mini Baja vehicle and enter the annual SAE East regional competition. The students initiated and carried on the fund raising efforts to support the project since UNH funds were not available. The project was completed on time and the students were successful in competing all events, a rare feat for most first year competitors.

Since in that start in 1997, the Mini Baja project has been an annual senior project for mechanical engineering students at UNH, and our team has been a competitor every year. Each year, the teams have built on the successes (and failures) of the previous teams and have proven to be competitive with other institutions that have had many more years of experience in this area. The Mini Baja East competition was started in 1976 and many of the teams currently participating started their programs in that time frame.

A new vehicle is designed and built each year, sometimes with major components from the past year’s vehicles. The SAE rules prohibit the use of the same vehicle from year to year, and require that at least three major systems be modified or replaced each year. Every UNH team is expected to raise the majority of the funds required for this project and the expenses associated with the competition. Most of the support, which includes materials, services, and financial grants, is provided by companies and individual sponsors from throughout the New England area.