Site prep ramps up for Baja SAE Williamsport

Published 03.25.2024

Photos by Christopher J. Leigh, video producer; Tom Speicher, writer/video producer; and Bradley M. Webb, dean of engineering technologies

News
Baja SAE
Baja SAE Competition
Diesel Truck, Heavy Equipment & Power Generation
Automated Manufacturing & Machining
Corporate Tomorrow Makers
    Shale excavating begins at Penn College's Heavy Construction Equipment Operations Training Site.

    Preparations for Baja SAE Williamsport are ramping up at Penn College’s Heavy Construction Equipment Operations Site in Brady Township. Last week, workers from Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc., a leading heavy and highway contractor and Corporate Tomorrow Maker, excavated shale and dispersed the fragments to fields that will serve as parking areas for competing schools and spectators. The company donated its time, expertise and equipment as part of its sponsorship of Baja SAE Williamsport.

    Seth J. Welshans, faculty in diesel equipment technology-operator, assisted GOH along with students from the Service Technicians & Operators’ Association. Excavators, bulldozers, haul trucks and rollers dominated the landscape. Corporate Tomorrow Maker Blaise Alexander Family Dealerships and the Wayne Township Landfill each donated a haul truck and provided operators throughout the week.

    Baja SAE Williamsport is scheduled for May 16-19. One hundred collegiate teams from 31 states, the District of Columbia, Brazil and Canada have registered for the competition. The comprehensive event requires teams to design, manufacture and build a single-seat, off-road vehicle to survive various challenges, including a four-hour endurance event, the competition’s toughest test. Since 2011, Penn College has earned 14 top-10 finishes in the endurance race, including two wins.

    In early April, logging contractor Metzler Forest Products is scheduled to clear trees for the 1.1-mile endurance course that will feature hills, gullies, tight turns and numerous obstacles. Metzler is providing in-kind support for Baja SAE Williamsport, including discounted service and timber mats. 

    The fragments will be placed in fields intended to be parking areas for Baja SAE Williamsport competitors and spectators.
    A bird’s-eye-view of the excavation.
    One of countless trips for the haul truck.
    This is one of a couple fields being transformed into a suitable “parking lot.”
    Time to spread some rocks!
    When the shale fragments are too big, a hauler transports the rocks to a nearby location for possible use as obstacles during the competition.
    Once completed, this area will be home to trailers belonging to the Baja SAE teams.
    The bulldozer has plenty of “candidates” to move.
    Two students from the Service Technicians & Operators’ Association brave the morning chill for real-world experience.
    Methodically, the dirt fields are being covered with shale.
    A student operates a roller to flatten fragments.
    In less than two months, this area will be brimming with Baja SAE activity.

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