The "revelation machine" is a vehicle designed and built by students at TUT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. In October last year it did TUT proud when it won the endurance category in the South African national Baja race. It took six months of designing, three months of manufacturing, 18 hours of testing and 4 185 hours of hard work for a wonderful four-hour race.
This year in May, a Baja team of three full-time mechanical engineering students, Adrian Rocher, Matthias Norel, Maureen Ramaube, and one faculty adviser, Mr JA de Lange, took the revelation machine to represent TUT and South Africa at the SAE international Baja race in Portland, Oregon.
It was nerves, anticipation and excitement for the team as they prepared to compete in the USA against participants from, among others, India, Canada, France, Korea and Dubai.
The team’s outstanding performance in the USA testified to the high standard of engineering on which TUT prides itself. The car participated in three out of four static events and unfortunately completed only one lap of the race, but still managed to obtain position 52 out of 65 cars competing in the race.
The team would like to thank TUT for the continued support and also the staff and students at the Oregon Institute of Technology for their warm welcome. "We were given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," one team member said.
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