Student racers compete at Baja Butler Bash
CLAY TWP -- Engines revved and dust flew as students set off to the races at the second annual Baja Butler Bash on Saturday.
The competition, run by Grove City College Racing at the SwitchbackMX race track in Clay Township, highlights student racing teams and off-road vehicles from colleges and universities across the region.
Students from Johns Hopkins University, Ohio Northern University, University of Maryland College Park, Miami University, University of Pittsburgh Johnstown, and Grove City College competed in a number of events with a total of 15 vehicles. Drivers entered into a non-stop, four-hour race designed to test their cars’ engineering and endurance.
The 20-student Grove City team has been working on preparing its two cars, Red October and Liberty Bell, since the beginning of the semester, said Olivia Whiteman, vice president of marketing for the Grove City College Racing Baja SAE Club.
Red October is approximately three years old and Liberty Bell is about eight years old, she said.
“We have to make sure that everything is running well,” she said. “Since we don’t make a new car every year, we try to make them lighter, faster, and more agile, because that is really how you win. Everything on the car, we built or manufactured ourselves, except for the engine.”
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