Baja Off-Road Racing at McMaster University

Royal Distributing proudly supports a variety of local racing teams and events, including niche and unconventional powersports such as a student-run Baja racing team at McMaster University in Hamilton. Each year, the team designs, manufactures, and assembles a single-seat off-road vehicle. The vehicle is similar to a Dune Buggy, with an emphasis on suspension and edurance over top speed. Established in 2007, this marks their 18th season. Over the years, the team has built and competed with 17 different Bajas, with the exception of the pandemic year. Annually, they participate in four competitions total, two official and two unofficial, and have traveled to locations as close as Québec City and as far as California.

The team is composed of six subteams: Chassis, Driver Controls, Data Acquisition, Drivetrain, Suspension, and Business. Together, these subteams are able to manufacture and assemble over 90% of the vehicle in-house. Members gain a wealth of technical, hands-on experience, spanning from design and simulation to machining and assembly. The team takes pride in handling every aspect of the process. They work out of a garage bay at the university, fully equipped with metalworking, machining, electronics, and mechanical equipment. As much of the vehicle is fabricated in the shop as possible, with finer calibrated sensors and extreme precision parts ordered in from sponsors and local manufacturing companies. For example, Royal distributing will be providing the Baja Team with off-road traction tires suitable for endurance racing, which would be unnecessary to create from scratch.

The team boasts an impressive race career, with a historically victorious last year,

"We won 1st place in the Suspension and Traction event at our Pennsylvania competition out of 100 teams and placed 8th overall at both official competitions we attended. We're currently deep into manufacturing our 2025 season car with the goal of completing it for the Épreuve du Nord competition at the end of January in Québec City."

With the next races coming up in just a couple months, Royal is excited to follow the progress of the team and continue supporting the development of student-run projects. The Baja team is unique in that there are no senior engineers or professors to guide their wins, the entire group from the team leads to the crew are all engineering students, proudly bringing all of their skills and interests together to keep their passion for powersport alive.