2016 UNCC SAE Baja Car

[Land Crusher]

This past year was my senior year at UNC Charlotte. I was fortunate enough to be the project lead of the UNCC SAE Baja car as my major was Mechanical Engineering with a Motorsports concentration. The scope of this project was to design and fabricate a single-seat, open-wheel, all-terrain prototype buggy. The constraints of the vehicle were as follows:

- Maximum 64" track width
- 10HP 305cc Briggs and Stratton engine
- Heavily constrained chassis dimensions

First, we determined our wheel base and track width. Then using the suspension knuckles (2015 YZF450R fronts and Polaris 525 rears), we designed our a-arms and trailing arms to give us the 10" of travel that we wanted. We tailored the chassis design around the suspension points after they were finalized. Below are some pictures of some FEA analysis to analyze our stresses and deflections.

We couldn't find a CAD file for the YZF450 knuckles so we 3D-scanned them and created a solid part in Solidworks.

Below are some renderings of the chassis and mock-up.

 

[Land Crusher]

Wrapping up our design in the second half of the first semester, we sent our tubing (4130 Chromoly) out to B.R.M.S, one of our sponsors, to get bent. So when the second semester started, the fun part began. Fabrication time. We tacked all of the smaller portions of the chassis together first so that later on they can be tacked together by cross members and braces. We knocked out the rear roll hoop first.

We used Solidworks for the notch profiles and various methods (tube-notcher, die grinders, grinding wheels) to notch our tubes.

At the beginning of the year, I knew I wanted to learn how to weld and weld our chassis together so I broke out our Miller TIG welder and got some burn time in.

 

[Land Crusher]

Started welding parts of the chassis together.

Some goodies came in. Fox Float 3 RC2 air shocks.

It was a huge milestone when we got her on all four tires.

Our squad.

 

[Land Crusher]

We got excited and took her out to break her in.

Stripped her down to weld out all the body panel tabs, and other accessories brackets. Then we got her powder coated.

 

[Land Crusher]

Got her back and assembled her all back together.

 

[Land Crusher]

We finished buttoning up everything the night before our Senior Expo so we weren't able to run it afterwards. All the fluids had to be drained in order to display it in our arena.

 

[Land Crusher]

Here's a little video of the last two days before our senior expo!

 

[justjeepin86]

Looks like a really cool project! Congrats on a great job.

 

[92_SquareEye]

Badass...congrats

 

[grapehead]

The switch labels are great!

 

[rockcity]

Nice. I was on the ECU team years ago and loved doing those cars. It's always fun to see what you all put out there!

Rig looks simple and fast

What are the floating and water portion of the event now? Any provisions needed nowadays?

 

[ghost]

That is cool... Nicely done.

 

[leakedd]

Awesome man! I'm transferring to UNCC this fall for mechanical engineering, hoping to get involved with this type of stuff.

 

[tkeaton]

That welding table.....daaaaaamn!

 

[CasterTroy]

I was always envious of uncc and the Baja car

I went to A&T and we did the concrete canoe

Which always sank because of too much soul glo

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

I was on Baja at uncc in 05 & 06, and helped build the 2 cars they built in 01. Similar designed to this but with coilovers & 400ex front parts. The 06 car was our nicest with a 2 spd gear box designed with a low range for the tow test.

Best part about Baja was getting to race the previous year car around campus, esp in the snow. Campus police hated us.

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

Nice. I was on the ECU team years ago and loved doing those cars. It's always fun to see what you all put out there!

Rig looks simple and fast

What are the floating and water portion of the event now? Any provisions needed nowadays?

When I competed there were 2 national competitions. One required it to float across the lake while the other was just mud holes. Both ways we ran paddles on the rear. Only in 05 did we compete at both events. Normally it was only the non-lake version.

It was an anxiety filled night when we finished the floatation and decided to push a running car off into the pond behind the school.

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

We got excited and took her out to break her in.
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Stripped her down to weld out all the body panel tabs, and other accessories brackets. Then we got her powder coated.
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Did you have the chassis heat treated after welding?

The 08 or 09 team did some prerunning with their car and pile drove a tree. That wasn't easy to explain I bet.

 

[NCJeyota]

I did baja the last 4 years at NC State, we didn't think y'all had a team anymore, just a formula team. Did you go to any competitions this year? Here's the car we competed with this year.

 

[rockcity]

When I competed there were 2 national competitions. One required it to float across the lake while the other was just mud holes. Both ways we ran paddles on the rear. Only in 05 did we compete at both events. Normally it was only the non-lake version.

It was an anxiety filled night when we finished the floatation and decided to push a running car off into the pond behind the school.

I was one of the founding members of the ECU team back in 05 and 06. Not sure what they did after 06. But, we always did the water comps. Pirates are comfortable in the water!

You are right. It was absolutely nerve racking driving a perfectly good car into the water that was untested to the point all of our bouyancy foam still hadn't cured! Paint was still wet! I'm glad I didn't get picked to sit in on the float test!

Man. Those were long ass nights without sleep and driving the buggy through campus at 3am being chased by student patrol! Lol

 

[tkeaton]

What is the academic/engineering/design/regulation/tomfoolery reason that they insist on them always looking like .....well, like they all do?

 

[Falko]

What is the academic/engineering/design/regulation/tomfoolery reason that they insist on them always looking like .....well, like they all do?

The occupant protection / chassis rules combined with sizing for the average driver and lowest possible weight.

 

[Falko]

I did baja the last 4 years at NC State, we didn't think y'all had a team anymore, just a formula team. Did you go to any competitions this year? Here's the car we competed with this year.
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View attachment 223313

Good to see my roll hoop overhead member design to fit Parker's tall ass is still hanging around.

 

[Chuckman]

at ASU all we got to do was build jeeps….

 

[Land Crusher]

Thanks everyone!

Nice. I was on the ECU team years ago and loved doing those cars. It's always fun to see what you all put out there!

Rig looks simple and fast

What are the floating and water portion of the event now? Any provisions needed nowadays?

There were no floating/water portions in the events that I know of.

Awesome man! I'm transferring to UNCC this fall for mechanical engineering, hoping to get involved with this type of stuff.

Awesome man, I'd recommend participating as much as possible even if it is cleaning and prepping tubes. It will all pay off in the long run. Prepare for some long nights!

That welding table.....daaaaaamn!

Yes, the blueco table definitely came in hand.

Did you have the chassis heat treated after welding?

The 08 or 09 team did some prerunning with their car and pile drove a tree. That wasn't easy to explain I bet.

We did not. But I'm sure the powercoating helped some.

I did baja the last 4 years at NC State, we didn't think y'all had a team anymore, just a formula team. Did you go to any competitions this year? Here's the car we competed with this year.
View attachment 223312

View attachment 223313

Nice! When we hosted the SAE night, I saw your guys previous car. Ours was being work on in the other shop across the street. Unfortunately not, we were wait listed.