Western Baja Racing leads the field at OktoBAJAfest 2025

baja racing car

Western Baja Racing (WBR) delivered a commanding performance at OktoBAJAfest 2025, held October 3–5 in Colton, New York. Facing off against 15 cars from 11 universities, Western’s Car newest car (#6) swept all four events — Hill Climb, Short Track, Baja Cross and a four-hour Endurance race — securing 1st Overall.

WBR's second entry, Car #94, also impressed, finishing 4th Overall with consistent top-7 placements across all events.

McMaster University and Clarkson University rounded out the top three overall standings, placing 2nd and 3rd respectively.

"Being able to see the car finally perform on the track takes an immense amount of work behind the scenes," says Daniel Weppler, a 5th-year mechanical and materials engineering and AISE student and WBR captain.

"We began designing this car (Car #6) nearly two years ago, after spending the year prior brainstorming concepts and improvements based on everything we learned from our 2023 car (Car #94). Overall, this competition was a milestone for our current team and was a satisfying achievement for nearly two years of designing, building and testing."

Western Baja Racing Results – OktoBAJAfest 2025
Event Car #6 Car #94
Hill Climb 1st 7th
Short Track 1st 6th
Baja Cross 1st 5th
Endurance 1st 5th
Overall 1st 4th

baja car 2The OktoBAJAfest is known for its rugged terrain and demanding technical challenges, making WBR's dominance all the more impressive.

"Baja competitions are designed to be gruelling and harsh on your vehicle and breakdowns are a major part of competition that require your team to be quick-thinking and do real problem solving in the moment," says Weppler. 

"One of the most satisfying accomplishments from this competition has to be the fact we endured the entire competition without any major breakdowns for our newest car. A large part of our success from this competition came from the robustness and refinement of our new car and it is something all members of our team should be proud of."

Western Baja Racing is a student engineering team from Western University that designs and builds innovative off-road vehicles to compete in the Baja SAE competition. Comprised of students from diverse engineering disciplines, they push the boundaries of off-road racing technology, showcasing teamwork, creativity and technical excellence on a global stage.