What is SAE Baja?

SAE Baja challenges engineering students from around the world to design and build an off-road vehicle that will survive the severe punishment of rough terrain. Each team's goal is to prepare a single-seat, all-terrain vehicle to compete in various dynamic and static events. The vehicle is to be a prototype for a reliable, maintainable, ergonomic, and economic production vehicle which serves a recreational user market.
The object of the competition is to provide SAE student members with a challenging project that involves the design, planning and manufacturing tasks found when introducing a new product to the consumer industrial market. Teams compete against one another to have their design accepted for manufacture by a fictitious firm. Students must function as a team to not only design, build, test, promote, and race a vehicle within the limits of the rules, but also to generate financial support for their project and manage their educational priorities.