A few times per year, I volunteer as a Technical Inspector for Baja SAE. This is a 3-day collegiate competition. Teams of students design and build off-road vehicles, then put them through a series of tests. These tests include suspension checks, acceleration runs, maneuverability courses, and more. These events are capped off with a grueling 4-hour endurance race. This past weekend I was at the last event of 2023 hosted by Honda at the Briarcliff MX Park in Nashport, Ohio.
The team from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU Motorsports) was the overall winner with University of Nevada-Las Vegas (Rebel Racing) winning the Endurance race. The full results can be found at the Baja SAE website here.
My favorite part of attending these events is seeing these college students come together to solve problems on the fly. It can be pretty inspiring. Many times cars will fail tech for one reason or another and they have to go back to their paddock and fix it, sometimes pulling all-nighters to bring it together and pass in time for the dynamic events to start. I’ve seen teams tear down their whole car to make modifications needed to pass tech. They’ve had to weld additional bars to their roll cage, change the way their seatbelts mount, even completely rewire their electrical circuits. Once, I saw a team come through tech for a re-check with design notes written with a Sharpie on a tortilla.
I’d love to attend one of these as just a photographer. There are tons of opportunities for some great shots but for now my Tech Inspector duties are the primary responsibility and I can only catch some photos whenever I can get some downtime from that.
If you’re a fan of off-road powersports at all, I would highly recommend trying to attend a Baja SAE event. There are usually 3 events per year but the schedule for the 2024 season hasn’t been posted yet. Check the official Baja SAE website periodically for details.
Rabbit Branch Photography 
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