Brandon Kilgore knows where he's going. And where he's going generally involves off-road vehicles.

The 19-year-old Ohio State University-Marion freshman engineering student is part of the Baja Buckeye team that designs and builds a new off-road buggy at Ohio State's Center for Automotive Research every year. Ohio State's Baja team competes against other colleges from around the world in competitions sanctioned by the Society of Automotive Engineers.

The Baja Buckeye team will be taking their off-road vehicle to Auburn, Alabama, for a competition April 9 to 12 and then to another SAE-sanctioned competition May 7to 10 in Baltimore, Maryland. The vehicles are judged on safety, design, cost, dynamic performance and a race on the final day of competition.

As the team designs and builds its competition vehicle, "they get to apply the things they're learning in the classroom, which is huge," staff adviser Darrin Orr said.

"Our cars have been finishing in the upper third of the competition, so they're doing OK," he said.

It costs about $20,000 to build each vehicle, with funds raised by the team members.

The Baja Buckeye team is one of six automotive teams building unique vehicles at Ohio State. One of those teams builds the "Buckeye Bullet" series of electric-powered streamliners that has set world land speed records of more than 307 miles per hour.

Kilgore lives in Delaware County and graduated from Olentangy High School. Though he pursues his engineering classwork on the Marion campus, he spends Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Center for Automotive Research on Ohio State's Columbus campus designing and building this year's Baja Buckeye buggy. "

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"I like being here in Marion because of the smaller classes," he said. "I like the interaction with my professors."

But he also relishes the opportunity to be part of Ohio State's automotive teams. He hopes to parlay his engineering degree and practical experience at OSU's Center for Automotive Research into a job designing off-road vehicles for Honda.

Brandon Kilgore likes working on off-road vehicles, including the Baja Buckeye buggy. (Photo: RYAN JOYCE/Submitted Photo)