RIT Baja and racing collegiate teams from six other countries are taking their cars off-road in the World Challenge.

The Baja SAE championship is happening at RIT and Hogback Hill Motocross track in Palmyra all weekend long.

These students design and build these vehicles from the frame up.

The teams are judged on ergonomics, functionality and performance of their cars.

The top Baja teams are from RIT, Cornell and the University of Michigan.

RIT Baja is the defending champ.

"For the five years that I have been here at RIT, every single year I have participated in the Baja SAE portion of it," said Christopher Mehalakes, captain of RIT's Baja SAE team. "It is definitely worth the engineering experience that you get back from it. It is a frame-up car and every single year every component that you see was manufactured within the last nine months."

The competition is free and open to the public.

The racing and hill climb events will begin around 10-am Saturday and Sunday at Hogback Hill in Palmyra.