Ashton Pearson, is a junior at UNLV, majoring in mechanical engineering and project lead of the Rebel Racing team. Thursday, May 25, 2023. Brian Ramos
Wednesday, May 31, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Faint clanking and drilling sounds echo quietly among the buildings on the UNLV campus near south Maryland Parkway and Cottage Grove Avenue.
The root of this noise is the Society of Automotive Engineering students’ Rebel Racing team working on their latest car for the Baja SAE race.
UNLV’s Rebel Racing team has been working since October on its four-wheel drive off-road vehicle, named Rebel Racer 7, to compete at the Baja SAE Oregon competition that starts today in Washougal, Wash.
“We had to build a whole new car and adapt a lot of principles from it, so every step of the way, and when we build, is obviously a learning expedition,” said Ashton Pearson, a junior mechanical engineering student and project manager of Rebel Racing.
“I just want to get through this because, honestly, it’s been hell week, but it’s going to pay off and so I’m just waiting for the payoff.”
Rebel Racer 7 will be pitted against groups from across the nation, including powerhouses like the University of Michigan and Rochester Institute of Technology, Pearson said.
Rebel Racing has been operating at UNLV and competing in the collegiate Baja SAE competition since 2007. Pearson said the first few years were rough with the club starting from scratch — especially at a university not known for engineering.
“Our team is very forward-focused on basically trying to develop motorsports engineers. It’s something we have been passionate about,” Pearson said. “(The formula) has always been to keep it simple, and keep good quality engineering, so we’ve developed a platform.”
The Baja SAE is an international competition where teams of college students design and build an off-road vehicle that can survive a four-hour race through tough terrains, according to the SAE International website.
Teams compete at a series of events across the competition year and have their creations judged based on factors such as cost-effectiveness, durability or sales presentation.
Although competing with a four-wheel drive car will be new, it’s a familiar road for the engineering students.
In the past, Rebel Racing has built two-wheel drive cars for the Baja SAE competition back when competing with four-wheel drive cars was optional.
Their most recent two-wheel drive vehicle, Rebel Racer 6, won first in cost of production and third overall in the endurance race at the Baja SAE competitions last year, Pearson said. The team also won first for the sales presentation.
But this year, the ruling organization changed its regulations to require that teams in the competition must use the Kohler CH440 engine in their vehicles and only build four-wheel drive vehicles.
Pearson said the SAE enacted the new requirements to better reflect the Utility Task Vehicle market, make the competition more challenging and “level the playing field” for all teams.
Rebel Racing usually recycles “the best elements of previous cars into a new design,” but it was a lot harder to do that with the four-wheel drive vehicle, Pearson and his team said.
Building the car became a learning process for even the seasoned members, like Pearson and Club President Dhruv Luhar, a recent graduate of UNLV’s mechanical engineering program.
The 20-person team, many of whom were new to the club as of the fall semester, pulled through. From the front suspension to the shock absorbers, almost every part on Rebel Racer 7 was designed and manufactured by the students.
Rebel Racing is probably the only collegiate team in the country to design its own shock absorbers in-house, Luhar said
“The people who are here right now, this is their car through and through, everything on there has been designed, built, engineered by UNLV students,” said Luhar, who led the sub-team that manufactured the vehicle’s suspension systems.
Rebel Racer 7 required more parts than the previous models, and it was more expensive to manufacture compared with all of the club’s two-wheel drive vehicles. The team’s fundraising efforts really had to be ramped up.
Luhar said it was tough having to balance his manufacturing duties, fundraising efforts and academics in his last year at UNLV. But that experience taught him so much, especially during their “crunch time.” It paid off; the experience helped him land a job at Caterpillar in Peoria, Ill.
The team members don’t know what to expect in Washington, but they’re riding into the competition with a mixture of emotions.
Pearson is already thinking ahead on what sorts of improvements they’ll need to make while Luhar is just hoping to have as much fun during his last competition with the team.
“This club is the best way to make friends, it’s the best way to learn and I believe in it a lot,” Luhar said. “So I’m really just looking forward to the whole experience and enjoying the seven days on the road with my friends and getting this car done and hopefully crossing the finish line in a good spot.”
