Blue Jay Racing Retires 2026 Car After Fourth-Place Finish

Blue Jay Racing, the Johns Hopkins University student club that designs and builds an off-road single-seat vehicle, retired its 2026 car this fall after finishing fourth overall in the season standings. The team is part of SAE International and is composed mainly of Mechanical Engineering majors.

Club member Andre Hurst, a junior, said the work mirrors what students will do after graduation. "A lot of what we do here is similar to the engineering that students will be doing if they decide to go into industry," Hurst said. "No one comes into Baja as a good engineer. The goal is that Baja turns you into a good engineer, and then you enter into industry as a good engineer."

The 2026 season drew roughly 200 university teams from outside the United States competing under the Baja SAE banner. Each season includes three four-day events: one on the East Coast, one on the West Coast and one in the middle of the country. Blue Jay Racing traveled to Oregon in May, Rochester, New York in June and Ohio in September.

At the Oregon event, the team's 2026 vehicle placed first in overall dynamics, second in acceleration, and third in both the hill climb and endurance tests. The first two days of each competition involve no driving. Teams present a cost report detailing how much of each car was built in house versus outsourced, a design presentation covering materials and the reasoning behind those choices, a tech inspection of safety and integrity, and a brake check. Cars that pass all four proceed to compete.

Saturday's driving tests measure 100-foot acceleration time, rock crawl performance, hill climb or sled pull, and maneuverability. Sunday's endurance test runs four hours, with teams repairing the car as problems arise while racing wheel to wheel around a track. The car completing the most laps in that window wins.

Junior Christian Nambo-Reyes, a new member, said older club members teach newcomers the basics. "They don't expect you to know anything. They teach you the basics, what they want you to do," Nambo-Reyes said. "They walk you through everything." Hurst said designing and building the 2027 car can take club leadership 40 to 50 hours a week. "It's for sure a lot of work," Hurst said. "It takes a lot of time and effort because we are learning how to engineer as we are building the car." Hurst said he has received advice on homework, classes, electives and professors from older members. Nambo-Reyes said the team has been welcoming. "They've been very welcoming. They'll be here to help us out." The club's cycle runs with design and build work through summer and fall, manufacturing and testing in winter, and competition in spring and early fall.

Hurst said the work produces something tangible. "It's very fulfilling to work on something for many hours, and then you finally get to see it manufactured. You can hold it in your hands," he said. "It makes the hours and hours that I spend on this team worth it." He also said the club provides an alumni network for internship and job leads. "They're usually happy to help because they probably went through four years of Baja," Hurst said.