GROVE CITY, Pa. – Eight Grove City College senior engineers will compete in a North and South American off-road vehicle competition this June.

Baja Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Montreal is a competition that simulates a real-world engineering design project and the challenges that engineers face. Students design and build off-road vehicles which are tested in series of speed, strength and endurance competitions. It is one of three such competitions every year in North America. Colleges and universities from throughout the United States, Canada and South America will participate.

Members of the team from Grove City College include students in the senior Capstone Design class: Wes Ykema of Canadensis, Pa.; Kate Cohen of Galloway, N.J.; Jen Plyler of Guys Mills, Pa.; Ryan Smith of Howell, N.J.; Dan Ragonesi of Canandaigua, N.Y.; Ken Shick of Midland, Mich.; Kevin Gahman of Perkasie, Pa.; and Cody Campbell of West Sunbury, Pa. Team members will build and race the vehicle. In the past few years, the College has sent vehicles and teams to five competitions.

The Society of Automotive Engineers hosts the event. Engine manufacturer Briggs & Stratton provides each team with a 10-horsepower engine free of charge. This keeps all of the teams on a level playing field and creates a more challenging competition. The competition lasts four days, from June 11-14 in Montreal, Canada. The first two days of competition are spent in design and safety inspection.

“You have to prove that your car is worthy,” said Dr. Vernon Ulrich, the team’s faculty sponsor and an engineering professor at Grove City College.

During the competition, the vehicles are evaluated based on their endurance, strength, maneuverability, suspension, acceleration and braking. For the College’s team, the goal is learning. Ulrich said he thinks the team can finish in the top 50 percent, but there is more to the competition than winning. “They’re learning all kinds of things about engineering,” Ulrich said. “And it’s fun.”

Team leader Ykema led his peers in the project. He has been hired as a manufacturing engineer for Lincoln Electric after graduation. “The management skills that this project has helped me develop will definitely be useful,” he said.