[slowTA]

I feel kind of funny about asking this, but I’m desperate. I’m the captain of one of my school’s SAE Mini Baja teams and it looks like I wont have my team unless we raise some money real fast. I go to the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and raising money is like pulling teeth. Most of the larger companies only give donations to charitable causes that help out the community in some way. Unfortunately, the engineering community doesn’t count in their eyes, can’t say I blame them really.

Our faculty advisor will not let us build or even order parts unless we raise $2,000 by the end of the year. Right now we are looking pretty good for getting half of that, but we’re still scratching our heads over the other half. Once we raise the 2 grand he will give us access to another 2 grand we will get from the school. If we can’t do so, whatever money we raise, as well as the money from the school, will go to our other team. I’m under the impression he wants to support one team instead of two.

So far my team has most of the frame and suspension designed, we have 2 rock crawler guys on board this year who have a ton of ideas for their trucks that were scaled down some for our buggy. We should be ready to start crunching numbers soon, and start building over the winter break.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the competition, we have to build a buggy from scratch, use a 10hp Briggs and Stratton engine, and follow an 80 + page rule book. The frame has to be made out of 1” OD x .083” wall tubing or better, should be covered with some kind of padding to protect the driver, have a brake light and backup light if equipped… the list goes on forever. There are three competitions in the U.S. (East, Midwest, and West). NJIT participates in the Midwest since the east has a water crossing, and the west is just plain too far, but they have a rock crawling section as well. The dynamic portions consist of braking, accelerating, a sled pull, hill climb… and yes, even an autocross!! Static judging is based on overall design, presentation, craftsmanship, driver comfort, innovation, and feasibility of mass production. The Midwest competition will be held in Ohio during the second weekend of June.

We’re willing to take any kind of donation possible… parts, money, tools, guidance, a box of cookies, anything we can get money from really. If you can help out in any way please pm or e-mail me and I will send you all of the information. Your donations will be tax deductible and should be sent right to the school.

These links are to the rule book and our website for last year’s team.
http://www.sae.org/students/mbrules.pdf
http://web.njit.edu/~ejp2/baja.html


Thanks for reading and any help possible,
Chris.

FYI, I asked trackbird if it was OK to post something like this and he doesn’t seem to mind.