Tom Henighan

Name:Tom Henighan
Major:Engineering Physics
Year:2nd

What I Do on the Team:

Last year was my first year on the team and I just did odd jobs. Cutting pipes, fishmouthing stuff, all the oddities that need to go on the car. This year I was more involved in the design phase. I did a number of calculations to assist us in choosing our gearing ratio for the car. I found things like acceleration as a function of gear reduction, how steep of a hill the car could climb, etc. I take a lot of physics courses, so I was pretty familiar with things like that. During the fabrication phase, I fish-mouthed and cut pipes for a great deal of the chassis. Getting those pipes to fit right is important for the structural integrity of the chassis. Now that the chassis is finished, I'm back to doing odd jobs.

I am not in mechanical like a lot of the rest of the team, but I'd like to think that I can still pull my weight. I love doing things with my hands, grinding metal and whatnot. That's the real reason I joined this team. That and I just love driving off-road.

Tim Brownell

Name: Tim Brownell
Major: Mechanical Engineering - Graduating in June '08!!!!!!

(That when I met Jesse James when I went to the Baja 1000)

Role: Machinist/Design Reviewer
I do most of the general machining and all of the CNC machining for the team. I also do a lot of design reviewing and get a lot of "Hey Tim, do you think this is ok?" Which is cool with me. I was also the Team Captain for the 06-07 year.

About me: I am generally the thought of as the craziest guy on the team. Usually if there is something dangerous/reckless/potentially-life-threatening that needs done, I am usually the one doing it. This has included but has not been limited to: water/flotation testing the car in 40 degree weather (twice), sticking a file onto a part spinning on the lathe to remove burrs (more times than I can count), using a grinder on a piece that is also spinning on the lathe (I needed to remove a fair amount of material and the piece was hardened so regular machining wasn't working so well), and I'm sure many more things that I can't think of. The picture below is another example.

We have a lift table that we use to raise the car up off the floor to remove the tires/suspension components. Since the table was purchased at Harbor Freight, it is not exactly the highest quality and has a tendency to suddenly release and drop. When it is lowered, it stands about 7" high. In this picture, I am trying to figure out where the leak is coming from in the gearbox. I am currently laying under the car, with my head under the lift table directly under the sticker that says "Do NOT put your hands or feet under the table." But hey, I was too busy trying to find the leak to read some silly warning label...

Random Story to be posted later... I have to go open another beer with a pair of needle nose pliers since my bottle opener just broke...

Nick Balzer

Name: Nick Balzer
Major: Welding Engineeing
Year: 5th

What do I do on the team?
I am the team manager. Basically I help with things like the cost and design reports as well as deal with SAE on registration and other things of that nature. I also do the majority of the welding on the team. I pretty much have my hand in everything, it makes things way more fun that way.

I am currently enjoying my senior year and I look forward to the race in Montreal, Quebec this year. Horray Canada!

Joe Batwinis

Name: Joe Batwinis

Major: Aerospace Engineering

Year: 3rd

What do I do?: Design Leader


Random Story: The engine in pretty much every Baja SAE car is at the rear of the vehicle. Plus, almost all are rear wheel drive as well. This means that the majority of the weight in the vehicle is located at the rear. What this means, is the vehicle is capable of doing some rather nice wheelies. Or at least it would be if the anemic engine we are required to use had any torque. However, the car can still do wheelies if you give it some help... which is where my story gets interesting.

Let me stop here to say I have a bad history with wheelies in these cars.

Rewind to the Homecoming parade of Autumn 2005. I, a lowly freshman, am riding around on the back of the old car "Sloopy"(Right, with me in it) in the parade. The parade isn't moving terribly quickly, and this gets rather boring, so we decide to do some wheelies for the crowd. Kids love wheelies, college students love wheelies, Dads love wheelies. Moms are questionable.

In order to perform a wheelie you stand on the back of the car while it is stopped, and proceed to jump down on the rear of the car at the same time the driver guns the gas. This throws the center of mass back far enough for the tiny Briggs and Stratton to lift the front end of the car in the air. With proper throttle management, you can ride this wheelie for a while. Usually the rider can stay on board as well.

On this particular day however, Sloopy's rear brakes had been disconnected, leaving only the fronts. So as we are driving down Woodruff, we go to pop a wheelie. While the front end is in the air, the driver hits the brakes, which does not slow the car, but it locks the currently-airborne front wheels. When the front falls back down, the car stops immediately. This throws the rider, me, over the top of the car where I slam my head against the frame, which got a nice "oooooh" from the crowd.

Ouch. This was one of those star-seeing moments. I also bent up my glasses. Once I regained my composure, I yelled at the driver for being an idiot and then made my way to the team pickup truck and climbed in the bed.

Fast forward a year and a half. A new team member is taking the old car "Woody"(Right) for a spin around the C.A.R. parking lot. I decide to teach him how to do wheelies, so I jump on the back, explain what he needs to do, and we go for it. The front end pops up in the air pretty high. Too high for me to ride out, so I go to jump off. Unfortunately my foot comes down in some loose gravel and I lose my footing and fall.

My face breaks my fall. More specifically my two front teeth and my upper lip. Somehow I managed to hurt only my face with any significance. Very minor scrapes on my knee and palm, my lip cut badly and bleeding prodigiously and the lower half of my front teeth are nowhere to be found.

A quick trip to the ER and then up to an emergency dentist and I have teeth back, although granted they are only half mine. Thanks to Tim Brownell and Andrew Muhic for being chauffeurs that day.

In summary, I don't do Wheelies anymore.

Devin Hilty

Name: Devin Hilty

Major: Mechanical Engineering

Year: 5th

What do I do on the team?

This year, I was the captain of the team. That means I organized most of the stuff that happens on the team. I also played a role in the design of the car which is pretty friggen sweet by the way. Hopefully I can get some pictures of some of the stuff up here soon.

Random Story:

Alight, so two years ago, I was out at the shop cutting out suspension tabs with the plasma cutter. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's like a big electron torch that cuts through really thick steel (by melting it). There may be a picture of it below. Anyhow, all of a sudden, I smelled something burning and my leg got hot. I didn't think anything of it at the time, so I kept cutting. That is, until I saw an orange glow out of the corner of my eye. It was a giant flame coming from my leg. MY PANTS WERE ON FIRE. So I started freeking out, and batting at it. This did nothing. Finally, I grabbed a rag near by and put out my leg with it. My leg was out, but the rag was now on fire. So I started stomping on the rag to put it out.

About this time, the director of the research facility (C.A.R.), Professor Rizzoni, and our faculty advisor, Dennis Guenther, walk in to see me stomping on this rag with a smoldering, half burned away pair of pants. This is the first time I met either of them, and they are intimidating guys. So I didn't want them to know I just caught myself on fire. Anyhow, they both come up to talk to me, not realizing that I just put out my pants. Guenther kept asking what the burning smell was. I blamed it on the Formula race team. How they did not see that one of my pant legs was smoldering and partially missing is beyond me, but the whole experience scared the hell out of me.

I have since burned and destroyed more of my clothes, but I try to do it when I know that nobody is going to be around.

So that's my story.

This part of the blog is going to be filled in by fellow team members. It is still in the process, but it will get there.