BAJA Powertrain Driveline

Image of Baja vehicle on the dirt track at competition

Background

BAJA SAE is a national collegiate competition that is held every year which includes a hill climb event, endurance race and obstacle course. In the past, our team has experienced technical and driver issues, resulting in incompletion of the race. This year, the goal is to finish and place in the top 20.

Goals and Objectives

Last years car, Scoundrel, had uneven power delivery, excess vibrations, and component failure. To combat these issues, we are replacing the rear differential with a transfer case and reducing overall weight by 30%.
As a result of the redesigns, the powertrain driveshaft is now angled 6 degrees horizontally. The scope of this project is to test the performance of the angled driveshaft, ensuring safety, minimal vibrations, efficiency and competition regulations. Important metrics that will be tested include vibrations, temperature torque delivery and constant angular velocity. The driveshaft will initially be tested in a test stand before being implemented into the vehicle.

Competition

The BAJA competition will be held on 05/01 for four days in Marana, Arizona. There are 81 registered teams competing from various colleges across the country. Such schools include CSUF, UCLA, Cal Poly Slo, USD, SDSU, and SJSU.

External website: https://mechanicaldesign101.com/2024/12/12/uci-anteater-baja-racing-five-months-to-the-competition/

Team Contact

Team Lead - Jason Dick: jdick1@uci.edu

Advisor

Professor Michael J. McCarthy: jmmccart@uci.edu

Project status:

Active

Department:

MAE

Term:

Winter

Academic year: