Ian Storrs ’24 joined ‘Cuse Baja as a wide-eyed freshman eager to build off-road vehicles for rough terrains. But to his surprise, the club once known for participating in rugged vehicle competitions had seemingly lost its drive. The impact of the pandemic, coupled with former members graduating, left the student organization without guidance. The club’s off-road vehicle was also just a frame, and the remaining members didn’t know how to complete it. As the club’s numbers began to dwindle, Storrs knew he had to do something.
Assuming the position as the club’s leader, Storrs worked hard to rebuild 'Cuse Baja from the ground up, focusing on recruiting and training the next generation of engineers to take the wheel. Today, ‘Cuse Baja is a thriving student organization that actively competes across the country and the off-road vehicle that was nothing more than a simple frame is now breaking records.
“The development of our current car has been a long road. With a large amount of reverse-engineering and scrappiness, we managed to cobble together a functional car,” says Storrs.
Despite challenges in their early competitions, ‘Cuse Baja didn’t let any roadblocks slow them down. And in September 2024, the club would set new records at the Baja Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) competition held in Michigan. After undergoing rigorous inspections, the team competed at different events that tested their vehicle’s acceleration, maneuverability, suspension and traction as well as rock-crawling ability.
The final event on the last day of the competition was the endurance race, where each team that passed inspections strives to complete as many laps as possible in 4 hours. ‘Cuse Baja was able to complete 15 laps, which was more than double the six laps they completed in a previous competition, making history as the best a Baja team had done at the University in over 20 years.
“We had gone from having never been to a competition to being legitimately competitive in only one year,” says Storrs. “Prior to us, a Baja team from SU had not raced at a competition in 20 years, so we are enormously proud of our accomplishments.”
"This year was filled with many great successes allowing our team to meet multiple goals,” says aerospace engineering student Laney Price ’27. “However, when I look back at Michigan, I will not remember our scoring. I'll remember the excitement our team felt and expressed during that week when we worked through many obstacles to reach that success.”
