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We made it to Nebraska, but our competition was far from smooth sailing. It started in tech inspection, finding out that our forward rollhoop was too thin! Apparently the tubing manufacturer had accidentally sent us a 0.083 wall tube instead of a 0.095. We never bothered to measure the tubes when they came in and ended up using this (a good reason to check every single order when it arrives). Luckily, the tech inspector had seen this problem before and gave us a relatively easy solution. If we took some 0.049″ wall tube, cut it up the middle, and used it to partially sleeve the offending rollhoop, we would pass. That is exactly what we did. We removed the fuel system, the front suspension, and tore off our 48-hour old bodywork and got to grinding and cutting. Thankfully, we had been smart enough to bring extra tube for just such an emergency. We borrowed a few clamps and trimmed tubes until they fit, then ran over to the Lincoln Electric tent where their on-call welder put our car back together. We were the last car allowed into the welding tent before the Lincoln guys called it a night (THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STAYING LATE!!!). We then reassembled the car for the umpteenth time until the sun set and we were kicked out for the night.
Aside from the rollhoop, we breezed through the rest of tech inspection. Once we had our stickers, we borrowed a set of corner scales and corner weighted the car. However something was very wrong as the first time we drove the car, it started picking up its left front wheel! Couple this with charging issues and some vapor lock in the fuel system (it was over 100 degrees on the track and none of these problems happened in testing) and our skidpad, drag, and autocross times were dreadful. The only upside was we were still beating our previous times set a year prior. Finally, we got the corner weights sorted out (with a different set of scales) for the Enduro. The car ran flawlessly for the first stint and Rob pitted for the driver change. 
I got in and pulled to the starting line and immediately, the radiator began to boil over. We were pushed aside, but decided to try and get back on track ASAP so we could get some air moving over the heat exchangers. When the track cleared, we tried to fire up: but the fuel system vapor locked again and killed the battery trying to turn over. We were done for the year. After all that hard work we would not finish the Enduro. We were turning great lap times and the car was super fast. But all our good luck finally ran out the moment we needed it the most. This was the first UD car to DNF an event since 2010.
Competition was a huge punch in the gut, followed by several kicks to the nuts. It was a painful way to wrap up the year, but there was still reason to smile. First, even with suspension problems and down on power, we were 8 seconds quicker than our previous effort (confirmed by our Autocross times and adjusted for the different course). We had lopped off 50 pounds and there’s plenty more weight to come out in a future iteration. We impressed a lot of teams with some of our innovative ideas (like the bodywork and through-chassis swaybars) and most importantly, impressed the UD faculty enough to double our budget for the next three years. The car attracted the attention of US senator Chris Coons, who got to drive the car on our test track. Despite the setbacks and hard luck, this car represents a hell of an effort by all who were involved. I wish I had the time and space to thank every single person who helped us get this car together and off to competition. Without the help of our sponsors, faculty, friends, and family, this effort would not have come together. And while I may be graduated and off to new pastures, UD is building another SAE car that looks to be lighter, more powerful, and more innovative than the BHR14.
Want some parting advice budding SAE'ers? Here it is: when you're sitting down to design your car keep this simple saying in mind: Build a car that can car. If you shoot for the moon, you're going to end up nowhere. Make sure your fundamentals are taken care of first before you add features. If your car cannot go, stop, and steer, and do it over and over again, then you don't have a car. Always build a car that can car. You'll be surprised how often that little phrase is overlooked…and yet how very important it is.
