For the first time ever, Harding University is putting together a Baja race team to compete among other universities around the country. These race teams compete against each other to determine which car is best suited for off-road events.
Shawn Batten, senior captain of the race team, said he is devoted to creating the first successful Baja race team for Harding, along with 12 other members looking to reach similar goals.
“Baja racing is an intercollegiate sport that has been around universities for years across the country,” engineering major Shawn Batten said. “Now we finally got the OK to start a team of our own.”
Batten said he got the idea from his older brother who participated in Baja racing when he was in school. Batten has been persistent on creating a race team here at Harding since his freshman year.
“Many people hear ‘Baja off-road racing’ and think of an oval track, but really it takes place on dirt tracks that consists of multiple turns through woodsy areas, creeks, hills and other obstacles that are not like an ordinary oval track,” Batten said. “It’s not necessarily a race, it’s more for engineers to build a car they think can withhold the beatings the track presents throughout the competition.”
Batten went on to explain that this type of racing is for engineering majors more than it is for drivers, and it is designed specifically for engineers to build the best car for each event.
“We compete in four or five dynamic events (during individual meets) that will test certain parts of the car in an engineering aspect,” Batten said. “Chain pull, suspension test, mobility test and other hurdles that will test the cars limits.”
Batten said the last event is a four-hour-stamina race in which every member has the chance to step in and help their team finish a race that is long and taxing on their cars.
“The field starts out with about 100 cars, but by the last race it is closer to forty,” Batten said. “It is rare to see all the cars make it through the competition without some type of problems, but our job is to limit those problems.”
Other team members such as Derek Laxton, senior engineering major, have been working alongside Batten and other teammates since the beginning of the program.
“I think the design part of it is challenging for us,” Laxton said. “But I think more importantly we have the opportunity to start something new here at Harding.”
The race team has their first competition out of two on April 18 in Cooksville, Tenn. Batten and his teammates would love for Harding to support their race team as they start a new tradition.
Admission to the event is free.
