Mini ATV is vehicle for students' creativity

The project is an extracurricular, noncredit, hands-on activity.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A cloud of dust fading around him, Al Rivalsky removed the maroon motorcycle helmet.
"That's the fun part," he said.
The Youngstown State University mechanical engineering technology major pushed himself out of the vehicle he had just spun around a gravel parking lot.
A team of YSU students designed and created the four-wheeled all-terrain vehicle, called a "mini baja," during the past school year. Rivalsky, of New Middletown, and team co-captain Greg Mazurek of Boardman showed off the baja Monday, telling about the experience of manufacturing the machine.
"You get experience working with other people and actually designing and building something," said Mazurek, a mechanical engineering major who will pursue a graduate degree in aerospace engineering.
The team started with an engine and a gas tank. Everything else was made "from scratch," Rivalsky said. They worked on the car from last August through this spring.
Costs vary
Cost was around $2,500 to $3,000, but in the past the machines have been created for as little as $200, said project adviser Don Slanina, an assistant professor in YSU's School of Technology. Some schools spend upward of $25,000 on cars. But, Slanina said, they don't perform any better than YSU at competitions.
Slanina said that the project is one employers like to see on graduates' r & eacute;sum & eacute;s and that it also increases the visibility of YSU's engineering program.
"It's the hands-on experience, taking the design through completion, that you don't see in the lab-type experience," Slanina said.
This summer, the baja competed against 123 teams at a Society of Automotive Engineers Mini Baja Midwest event in Troy, Ohio. Other sponsors of the event are Honda of America and Briggs and Stratton. The vehicle competed in acceleration, skid pull, maneuverability, hill climb and endurance categories and was also judged on its appearance, design and comfort and the feasibility of mass production.
Rivalsky said the YSU team performed best in the hill climb, finishing in the middle of the pack in other areas, except in the endurance race (when the team experienced a mechanical failure).
Rounding out the team
Others participating in the extracurricular activity were co-captain Mike McCombs of Hubbard, Brian Luoma of Fowler, Kari Utterback of Jefferson, Larry Rust of New Springfield and Jason Hanysh of Austintown.
The 2002-03 team made some modifications over the previous year's model, including a switch from square to round roll bars and some unsuccessful experimentation with the gear box. The vehicle also was made shorter, and wider -- in part to accommodate Rivalsky's 6-foot-3-inch, 285-pound frame. (Last year his knees crowded the steering wheel). Rivalsky said they'll make more modifications in the coming school year, hoping to perform better at next summer's competition.
Rivalsky said the experience will help him pursue a goal of working on design and improvement in the ATV or dirt-bike industry. He already has his own company repairing the vehicles but will work on the mini-baja team again this coming school year.
"It helps you work with other people, overcome obstacles, learn from your mistakes," Rivalsky said. "It's a lot of work, and a lot of fun too."