BAJA-SAE is an intercollegiate design competition for undergraduate and graduate students organised by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The object of the competition is to simulate real world engineering design projects and their related changes. Each team is competing to have its design accepted for manufacturing by a fictious firm. The students must function as a team to design, build, test, promote and compete with a vehicle within the limits of the rules.

In BAJA SAE, engineering students are tasked with designing and building a single-seat, all-terrain sporting vehicle that is to be a prototype for a reliable, maintainable, ergonomic, and economic production vehicle that serves a reacreational user market. The students must function as a team to design, build, test, promote and compete with a vehicle within the limits of the rules.

At competition, students are tasked with static events, dynamic events and an endurance race. Every car gets thoroughly inspected by design engineers before any event can be completed.

The first static event being a design review, hosted by industry engineers whoa re familiar with each sub team (Drive-train, Steering, Ergonomics, Etc). Students present in front of these judges and are based on their effectiveness of implementing the design cycle. The second static event is sales report, where students pitch their car seeking investors in their 'company' to mass produce the car at market. The last static even is the cost report, where all spending and time must be justified.

The dynamic events are designed to test specific subsets of the car. These include acceleration, maneuverability, suspension and a hill climb. Every dynamic event is timed and scored based on other teams performances. The acceleration event determines the starting placement during the endurance race.

The endurance is a four hour race determined to test the rigor of the car. The course is designed to test all the aspects of design. The endurance is scored based on the number of laps completed.