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After putting months of design, fabrication and testing, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's Cougar Baja team successfully cleared the vehicle inspection and represented the School of Engineering in this year’s SAE Competition in Nashport, Ohio, from September 24-27.

The team competed in three dynamic events: Passport Pull, acceleration, and a four-hour endurance race. 

Cougar Baja placed 27th among 62 competitors with a distance of 27.95 meters in the Passport Pull, after pulling a 2026 Honda Passport. Team member John Spurgeon drove the vehicle during the event.

“After coming in towards the end of summer and investing a lot of my time during the semester, being able to drive at my first competition was really cool. Managing 27th out of 62 competitors was a good result,” shared Spurgeon. 
 
Cougar Baja also competed in acceleration, finishing 51st among 63 competitors with a time of 6.851 seconds. The time constraints took a toll on their performance. “We were on a time crunch to finish events. This meant we ran our acceleration run with our suspension set up for sled pull. We had lots of tire scrub on our acceleration run, producing lots of friction, and hurting our speed," said Connor Ray, the Baja team’s president.

The team then placed 30th out of 62 competitors, finishing its first sanctioned endurance event since 2023, which tests the vehicle’s ability to withstand obstacles that strain the suspension, drivetrain, frame, and most importantly, the driver, by completing 28 laps even after a seized engine forced the team to replace it mid-race. Team members completed the swap in 35 minutes, a pace that surprised teams from across the competition.

Three drivers shared the endurance race: Ray, Carson Spies, the former president and member Braden Bensema.

“The moment the engine seized, I was in line at the start, less than two minutes from the race starting. I felt the engine rattle, then die, and I knew something was wrong,” said Ray.

“Retiring the car was never an option. Until the endurance clock hits zero, there is still work to be done. Thankfully, I was able to get a flat tow back to the paddock pretty quickly, and we began the engine swap. To the untrained eye, what transpired was pure chaos, but what actually happened was a well-coordinated pitstop to change this engine as fast as humanly possible,” Ray added.

The team credits university support, including resources and workspace, for making the trip and the results possible.

Cougar Baja is already planning its next car and has a list of improvements including a lighter and smaller car with optimized drivetrain to be more competitive. Its next scheduled competition is Winter Baja in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in January 2027. The team hopes to bring all three of its cars if each is operational and can be accommodated in the trailer.

PHOTO: The Cougar Baja Team; Cougar Baja's 3 endurance drivers (L-R): Connor Ray, Braden Bensema, and Carson Spies; Endurance race driven by Connor Ray