ANCHOR 1>> This weekend, creativity and innovation on full display at RIT.
Saturday is the annual Imagine RIT festival.
ANCHOR 2>>Jennifer Johnson getting a sneak peek at what the students have in store and
they are a creative group.
REPORTER>> I feel like I’m watching a NASCAR race or something because like 30 seconds
ago, he was out, didn't have his safety equipment on and now he's in.
This is obviously not NASCAR, this is Baja racing which I've been learning about from
the current world champions, that’s right.
You can meet them and check it out this weekend of course at Imagine RIT.
Opening ceremony is at 9 and you can see everything from 10 to 5, all free.
We're going to go around the team and have them introduce themselves and talk about what
they do for the team.
>> My name is Ellory Lane and this year on the team I am the treasurer and the chief
CNC operator.
REPORTER>> OK, I don't know what that means but it sounds cool!
DANIEL>> I'm Daniel Palmiter, I'm the team project manager.
REPORTER>> And where will you be in two weeks?
DANIEL>> In Gorman, California, at the second competition of the year.
REPORTER>> What would be happening if you weren't in Gorman, California?
DANIEL>> I would be walking the stage at graduation.
REPORTER>> So you're skipping graduation to be in the next race?
DANIEL>> That's right.
Too much time and effort to miss it.
REPORTER>> I love it!
Love the passion.
What's your name?
TAYLER>> My name is Tayler Clow, I'm the secretary and I do media and public relations and sponsorship
for the team this year.
REPORTER>> And our driver this morning is, you have a microphone on, what's your name.
DOUG>> I'm Doug Botto, I'm the current team manager for the RIT Baja team.
REPORTER>> And we're blinding you with the sun.
He is going to drive and show us how this goes but what's cool about this is they built
this, but this is last year's version so they're the current world champions.
If you come out Saturday, you'll be able to see, what is it, what's the big unveiling
coming up on Saturday?
TAYLOR>> This year, we'll be unveiling a new car, R16, which two weeks ago won first place
at a competition, which is pretty amazing, so all of the effort and design changes that
we did this year are being implemented into our brand new car which we can't wait to show
off to everyone, show off to our sponsors and everyone's that's been helping us out
through this whole process.
It's really exciting.
REPORTER>> You guy can say totally take that lawn mower, right?
TAYLOR>> We can beat that thing easily, oh yeah.
REPORTER>> Let's fire it up and see how it works.
So they have, they have built this, who wants to tell me as we watch this go, who wants
to tell me the Brazil story?
That was a great story.
You guys spent sometimes a year constructing these, right?
TAYLOR>> Last year, we went to Brazil to race our car and we sent our car down in December
for a race in March and when we got to Brazil, we were ready to get our car and it never
showed up because we had improper documentation and this and that.
Essentially, what we did as any great race team would do, you can't give up, you have
to keep pushing forward so we built a brand new car in three days, which is totally unthinkable.
We reached out to all of the schools all over Brazil and got all the different parts that
we needed and we had the seventh best lap time in the race.
We went across the finish line which is so huge and it was a great experience that I
know all of us wish we can do over and over again.
We didn't sleep but it was all worth it in the end.
REPORTER>> Normally it would take them a year to build, they did it in three days.
So in two weeks, you're in California and in June, who wants to invite everyone to June?
There's a race happening here.
DANIEL>> June 9th and 10th we'll be hosting two days of static event here in the RIT Gordon
Field House and then the 11th and 12th we'll be in Palmyra, Hogback Hill Motocross Track
doing the dynamic events.
You can see the cars run, go over some really gnarly stuff, telephone poles, big rocks,
big jumps, it's a good time.
REPORTER>> You have a practice track across the way.
I was saying like after a day full of classes, it's a nice way to get the stress out.
ELLORY>> Absolutely.
Driving the car is a great feeling.
It's really exhilarating and being able to hit the obstacles with full confidence is
an awesome feeling.
REPORTER>> I love it!
They not only put it together but then they have the task of driving it as well.
Nice driving!
Come on out, you don't have to imagine it, come on out to Imagine RIT Saturday.
ANCHOR>> Thank you so much, Jen.