Purdue Baja Racing: A Year of Firsts
Since 1983, Purdue Baja Racing has designed and built a new single-seat off-road vehicle every year, competing against the best universities in the world. In 2026 Purdue Baja topped the podium, winning 1st place for the first time in its history.
The Culmination
Hundreds of college students from around the world have descended upon a motorcross track in upstate New York for the Baja SAE event, an annual design-build-test competition organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Summer rainstorms have soaked both the students and the track. But the team members in Purdue’s paddock — exhausted, sunburnt, and covered in mud — have nothing but smiles on their faces.
“Baja SAE is the ultimate culmination of engineering, teamwork, and of course, fun!” said Aaron Binstock, president of Purdue Baja Racing, still recovering from his two-hour-long shift of driving the car.
“It’s a combination of both engineering and racing,” said chief engineer Victor Johansson, peering through his mud-caked driving goggles. “It’s really an engineering competition, but we also get to do wheel-to-wheel racing, which is cool in my opinion.”
Aaron and Victor had been friends since high school, but neither had heard of Baja when they joined Purdue as freshmen. At a student organization fair, they saw the car on display, and decided to go for it.
“Once I was on board, they gave me engineering work to do right away,” Victor said. “That’s exactly what I was looking for. And I’ve been here ever since!”
Trust the Process
In 2025, Purdue Baja Racing finished fourth in the world — its highest finish ever in 42 years. So how do you top that?
“We spend a month in the summer just doing research,” Aaron said. “We look at all the top teams to see what benchmarks we should be shooting for. This year, we rallied around the goal of getting to the podium for the first time ever. We want to get to 95% to 100% of what we’re capable of.”
While Baja isn’t a spec series, teams are required to use the same engine: a single-cylinder Kohler CH440 engine with 14 horsepower. The real magic comes through optimizing weight, transmission, steering, brakes, and especially suspension.
“This year’s car features 12 ½ inches of suspension travel,” Victor said. “And we need every bit of it to get over all the obstacles they set up on the track!”
Victor’s role as Chief Engineer involves making design decisions about all the individual systems on the car, while also guiding the overall culture of the team. “We have many team members working in various subteams: chassis, suspension, ergonomics, drivetrain, transmission, brakes. So rallying the troops together around a common culture is important to keep the process on track.”
During the fall semester, students design their respective subsystems. Once the CAD is finalized, they spend the winter manufacturing the individual components. Almost every part of the car — chassis, suspension, wheels, steering — is manufactured by students on Purdue’s campus.
“By spring, we have a fully built car we can go out and test,” Aaron said. “And we put the car through its paces until it’s time for competition.”
The Ultimate Test
Baja competitions are part carnival, part boot camp, and part engineering exam. As such, they inevitably begin with Powerpoint presentations.
“Out of 1,000 possible points in a typical Baja competition, 300 are available in what are called static events,” said Aaron. “We’re required to give presentations on cost, design, and business feasibility.”
This is where Purdue shines. Students have practiced their individual presentations dozens of times, reaching out to Baja alumni to get honest feedback on their performance. And it pays off — Purdue makes it to design finals for the fourth competition in a row, and would eventually receive 1st place in the category.
Next up is technical inspection. Industry judges scrutinize every millimeter of the car to ensure that it’s safe to drive on the course. Spot repairs are almost always expected. “This is my seventh Baja competition over four years,” laughs Aaron, “and we’ve had to weld something at every single one.”
Once a car passes technical inspection, it’s ready to tackle the dynamic events. Acceleration gauges the car’s speed off the line. Braking ensures that all four wheels can stop in a given length. Maneuverability sends the car around cones to test its steering systems. Hill climb challenges a car’s torque as it ascends a 30 degree slope.
And then there’s suspension and traction. “Suspension and traction is designed to destroy cars,” Aaron said. “You run over ditches and moguls, jumping telephone poles and giant tires. Out of 70 teams that got to this point, only ten finished the course. It’s not just about finishing fast, it’s about finishing at all!”
And in this case, Purdue succumbs; a combination of a tilted mound of dirt and strategically-placed telephone pole veers Purdue’s car off the course, forcing them to an unfortunate 18th place finish. It’s the lowest they’ll place in any event this calendar year.
However, there’s no time to linger before the final test: the endurance race.
“Endurance is actual wheel-to-wheel racing for four hours,” Victor said. “It’s the culmination of all the previous events — navigating obstacles like telephone poles, huge ditches, hills, drop-offs — but you’re also racing other cars at the same time. Essentially it’s pushing the car to 90% of its limit for four hours.”
It’s a threefold torture test of the car’s robustness, the driver’s physical stamina, and the team’s mental toughness. In Purdue’s case, all three would be put to the test immediately. On lap 1, the vehicle’s steering yoke shears off, leaving the driver stranded.
“As a team, we’re prepared for this,” Victor said. “We have people stationed around the track and in the paddock, and we’re always in communication. In this case, we got the car back to the pits, swapped out a part, and sent it back out. Except now we’re in 38th place!”
Over the next four hours, Aaron and Victor take turns driving the car over countless bone-shaking obstacles. “The car itself is pretty comfortable to drive, and that’s largely due to our ergonomics team who developed the seat, the steering wheel, and the pedals,” Aaron said. “But there’s no kidding around: it’s violent to go over those telephone poles and other obstacles, especially for four hours. Once you get in there, adrenaline just takes over. It was only when I got back to the paddock that I finally noticed how sore I was!”
After the first lap disaster, Purdue has worked its way back into contention. Victor maneuvers the car over the finish line, passing two cars on the final lap. Out of 86 cars that started the endurance race, Purdue finishes 6th. Combined with their successful static events, it results in an overall 5th place finish for the Boilermakers.
But that’s not the whole story! This New York event is actually the second competition Purdue has undertaken this summer. They first competed in Oregon in May, acing both static and dynamic events to finish 1st overall out of 77 teams — the most dominant victory for Purdue Baja Racing in 43 years of competitions.
“As a senior, it’s one of the most gratifying moments of my time at Purdue,” Aaron said. “It was the culmination of hours spent in the lab, in the shop, on the track. All the friends and teammates I’ve worked with. It was really humbling and really great.”
So was New York just a victory lap? Not even close. Baja students are so devoted to their team, they are competing three times in 2026, including an upcoming Ohio event in September. “It’s not easy going to three different competitions,” Victor said. “But we look at it as putting the vehicle through a racing series. We can change and iterate throughout the year, and adapt to the changing conditions at each specific track.”
Passion Project
Indeed, why do this at all? Purdue Baja students don’t get stipends or class credit.
“From the outside, it might look pretty crazy,” Aaron said. “Why would 50 people work 40 hours a week to build a car, and travel across the country to compete with it for no pay? But for an engineer, there’s nothing more gratifying then putting your efforts into a project, and seeing it have success.”
“It’s a passion project,” Victor said. “The people that join Purdue Baja have that competitive spirit within them, and they will sacrifice a lot to get to where we need to be.”
And they’re not alone; Purdue's other SAE teams also had banner years. Purdue Formula SAE finished 2nd in the country in 2026, while Purdue Electric Racing scored their first ever top-10 finish in last year’s challenge to build a battery-powered race car.
It also doesn't hurt that participating in motorsports is a huge springboard to a successful career. Both Aaron and Victor parlayed their Baja leadership positions into full-time jobs at SpaceX, and many other companies recruit at SAE events because of the dedicated students the series attracts. Likewise, Purdue’s Indianapolis location also hosts the country’s only accredited degree in motorsports engineering.
“Baja is kind of like life,” Victor said. “The more work you put into it, the better your results will be.”
To that end, SAE teams are always looking for new members. “There’s something for everybody,” Aaron said. “Some people are super into CAD, and others just want to put a wrench on something. We have a pretty extensive onboarding process, so students can feel confident to get involved right away.”
Aaron pauses and laughs, and points at some of the younger students he helped to mentor.
“Some of our team members are probably going back to the hotel tonight to start drafting designs for next year’s car!”
Purdue Baja Racing website: https://www.purduebajaracing.com
Instagram: @purduebajaracing
Writer: Jared Pike, jaredpike@purdue.edu, 765-496-0374