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maintained cornering ability . This package of engineering made the Virginia Tech system lighter , more powerful , and easier to steer .
“ The team ’ s hard work , dedication , and first-rate engineering made this a winning year . The innovative four-wheel drive system sealed the deal ,” said team advisor Jared Bryson .
The amount of work required to build their system from scratch meant that the team pushed their building deadline to the limit . The four-wheel drive system was also a new inclusion , further adding to the time crunch . David Hornberger , one of the student team leads , described what it was like to add a significant amount of time to their build .
“ There were a lot of memes made about how our team , how we showed up with a box of parts and took home trophies ,” he said . “ But we had a very hard-working team , and all the pieces finally fell together at the last minute .”
As a student team , many of Baja ’ s leadership team have departed with graduation , leaving the continuing legacy to a new group of students .
“ The student projects coming out of VT Mechanical Engineering and the Ware Lab have always been impressive ” said Bryson , “ I am very proud of the Baja team , and look forward to their future innovations .”