A dominant season opener for the McMaster Baja Racing Team
The McMaster Baja Racing Team kicked off the season by debuting their new car at Épreuve Du Nord (ÉDN), an off-season Baja race hosted by Laval University. The team reached several milestones and secured a third-place finish in the Endurance Race.
Co-captain and fifth-year Mechanical Engineering student Emily Ing shares first-hand some of the highlights from an unforgettable weekend.
“I am so proud of the team’s performance at ÉDN. We crushed building a 4WD car in six months, and I am excited to see what the rest of the season has for us. Seeing everyone’s personal and technical growth over the course of the season so far has been incredibly rewarding.”
Emily, Mechanical Engineering, Co-captain of the Baja Racing team
ÉDN is a smaller off-season winter Baja race, bringing together over 200 students from 15 universities. Over two days, participants compete in a design presentation event and a series of dynamic events: acceleration, suspension and traction, maneuverability and Nordic combine, culminating in a two-hour endurance race.
Year after year, ÉDN provides a fun and safe environment for our team to test cars and we have proudly competed in the event every year since 2012. ÉDN 2025 was a competition full of milestones for McMaster Baja. For the first time in the team’s history, we competed at ÉDN with a four-wheel drive (4WD) car.
In past years, our goal was to complete a two wheel-drive (2WD) car by mid-January for ÉDN and add the 4WD system by March. This year, we achieved our goal of finishing the full 4WD build over a month earlier than usual, this would not have been possible without the dedication of our team and the generous support of our sponsors. Reaching our goal has doubled our testing and tuning time. This is a major leap forward in our annual build cycle!
“ÉDN was the perfect way to kick off the season! It was amazing to see so many of our members get behind the wheel and experience all the challenging work we have put into these cars. I cannot wait to see what this team can do next!”
Ben Waldie, 5th year, Mechanical Engineering, Co-captain of the Baja Racing team
The second major milestone was bringing four cars to the competition—our largest number ever at an event. With a bit of box truck Tetris, we successfully transported our newly built 2025 season car, along with three previous cars, to the competition.
ÉDN is the competition where we can bring the most team members due to its accessible location and lower cost. We strive to give as many members as possible the opportunity to gain competition experience, and with four cars across all events, 40 team members had the chance to drive. More cars mean more hands-on learning, and our team works hard to keep old cars running to maximize opportunities for members to work on, tune and race them.
“It takes a lot of work and effort to build a fully functioning car in as little time as we did, and I am beyond proud of what we have accomplished! ÉDN was an amazing learning experience and we have been putting in the work to get the 2025 Baja ready for official competitions!”
Ariel Wolle, 5th year, Mechatronics Engineering, of the Baja Racing team
Five things to know about McMaster Baja Racing:
1. The vehicle
The Baja is a single-seat off-road vehicle. Our team competes in the Baja SAE Collegiate Design Series hosted by the SAE. We design, build, manufacture and assemble over 95% of our car in-house in the Gerald Hatch Building!
2. New season, new car
Our team was founded in 2007, making this our 17th season! During this time, we have successfully built a new car every year! We are committed to giving students as much hands-on experience as possible. By building and competing annually, we maximize learning opportunities and keep pushing the limits of our engineering skills!
3. Competing across North America
Every year we race in at least four competitions, and this year we are taking on five. Our races take us across North America, from nearby events in Quebec City to official competitions in California. Traveling to various locations allows us to test our car in diverse conditions and gain invaluable experience on and off the track.
4. Our slogan: “You shouldn’t need experience to get experience!”
This reflects our commitment to hands-on learning. No matter your background, our team will teach you everything you need to know – whether it is design, fabrication or racing. All we ask for is passion, curiosity and the drive to learn!
5. Multi-disciplinary collaboration
Our team is made up of undergraduate students from a variety of faculties and disciplines. This year we had 48 members of our team represent McMaster at ÉDN, with students from every stream of engineering, first-years, and business.
Our team recruits once a year at the start of the school year, if you are a motivated individual interested in gaining soft and technical skills and being a part of a tight-knit team, Baja could be for you! If you are interested or want to keep up with our shenanigans, follow us on Instagram @mcmasterbaja!
