Experience has proven to be a major advantage during frame fabrication for the 2011/12 season. When compared to the 2010/11 season, we have completed approximately 2 months of work, in 2 weeks. Our workmanship has also improved significantly and all tubing ends currently meet perfectly.
The design phase of the Cougar Racing 2012 Baja is drawing to a close and construction of the frame has begun. Fabrication and welding of the tube frame will continue throughout the month.
The frame is significantly different from last year’s in terms of both size and material. The primary roll cage will be constructed of 1.25″ x .065″ steel tubing , while secondary members will be composed of a mixture of tubing sizes including 1.00″ x .049″ and 1.00″ x .065″. The frame material for this season’s Baja is DOM chromoly, which exhibit’s considerably greater strength and stiffness than the lower carbon seam-welded steel tubing used in last year’s frame construction, while maintaining the same mass. We expect that the frame will be fully tack-welded within the next couple of weeks.
Fine detail design of the full Baja computer model will proceed until a full assembly is complete. A few of the next important design aspects to finalize include: body panels, steering system, and suspension mounting & bracing.
Below is the SaskTel documentary covering our 2011 competition season. Not sure what our team is about? Check out the video below:
October 4th, 2011 marks the beginning of the 2012 Baja SAE season. Our team will be building a new competition vehicle, from scratch, to compete in two international competitions. We have successfully registered for competitions in Portland, Oregon (May 16-19, 2012) and Madison, Wisconsin (June 7-10, 2012). The design of the 2012 competition vehicle is well underway and frame fabrication will begin in the next few weeks.
The 2011 competition vehicle has been fixed after rear axle tabs were bent in Peoria last June. Our team will be showcasing the vehicle at car shows and public events through October of next year.
Check back in the coming weeks for more fabrication updates and changes to our website.
Project BAJA SAE is officially a success! The team managed to complete our vehicle with only hours to spare; we were only able to perform very minimal testing, but on June 5th, 2011, our team of 5 students set route to Peoria, Illinois with rental car (Thrifty Car Rental), truck and trailer (Kramer Ltd.) with baja on-board.
After a full day of driving, we arrived in Minneapolis, where we rested for the night, and then completed the final touches on the car the following day (decals, paint, engine tuning, gas tank, and fire extinguisher).
We drove to Peoria the next day and arrived at our hotel in time to complete a final inspection of the car in order to be certain that we would pass the technical inspection.
On June 9th, we reached the competition site and completed both the design and cost presentations. Additionally, we spend the day sorting out compliance issues in order to finally pass technical inspection.
The following day consisted of dynamic events which included: brake test, acceleration run, hill climb, rock crawl, and maneuverability. The car performed extremely well, and more than exceeded our expectations as a first year team.
The final day of competition consisted entirely of the four hour endurance race, followed by award ceremony and clean-up. Our vehicle survived only the first two laps of the endurance due damage to the rear axle after a violent roll-over during the first lap. The vehicle was brought back into the pit area and repaired, but the quick fix was not sufficient enough to last another full lap. As a team, we owe the mishap to a design oversight which may have been avoided had we been able to perform more thorough testing, but for a first year team, we are satisfied with our accomplishments.
Our overall placement was 74th of 115 teams, and we all believe that this result could have been improved immensely, with only minor alterations to the vehicle; thus, the achievement should be regarded as an excellent starting point for future Baja SAE teams to use as a benchmark of achievement.
Without the support of our many sponsors, we would not have been able to make the trip to Peoria at all, let alone compete to standard that we did. So, we owe a big thank you to each of our sponsors, for which logos are displayed on our “Sponsors” tab. http://www.cougar-racing.com/?page_id=3
On Sunday May 29th the baja vehicle successfully performed to our expectations. The vehicle was tested only briefly, since much more work was required to have a completely competition-ready machine.
Testing incline approach capabilities on a 45 degree slope
In order to get to this point, the vehicle required paint (Kramer Ltd.), aluminum body panels and pedals (Advance Engineered Products Ltd.), safety harness and driver equipment (Canada’s Motorcycle), and racing seat re-finishing (Clark’s Luggage Repair). We also required a number of spare parts for competition and body panel cut-outs (Hydro Designs) to complete the vehicle’s aesthetics.
Bare metal frame with professional gloss black paint
The numerous hours of hard work put in by Project Baja team members have begun to pay off in form of exciting milestones. The most recent of these accomplishments include: steering assembly design and fabrication, shifting mechanism installation, pedal assembly installation, brake system design completed, driveline orientation finalized, and coil-over suspension installation. Additionally, the project design report has been completed and submitted for assessment.
The result of these accumulated achievements is a project build stage denoted “rolling chassis”, which entails that the vehicle be supported on solid ground by its own suspension, and be able to roll (and steer), but not necessarily under its own power. Our vehicle is, in reality, much further along than a true rolling chassis; (driveline, controls, seat, and body panels are nearly completed aswell) however, this point in the build represents our most significant milestone to date nontheless. The team also owes significant recognition to the U of R Sciences machine shop for helping us reach this point in construction.
Photos:
Steering column and supports
Specialty 3/4″ U-joint for steering column
Custom machined aluminum steering tie-rod
Completed Rolling Chassis
Recent accomplishments with Project Baja include: a-arm attachment to chassis; steering box support; upper and lower adjustable coil-over suspension mounts; finalized rear suspension setup; rear wheel spacers installed; engine mounting plate located; seat-back and headrest upholstery completed; pedal assemblies fabricated.
This progress was completed thanks to Hydro Designs having cut numerous parts for our pedals, drive-train and control arm mounts, and wheel adapters. The U of R Sciences Machine Shop was also very helpful in fabricating our many custom bushings and washers for suspension components.
A videographer also visited the SAE Garage this past Sunday in order to capture a few more hours of both video material and build photos for SaskTel Max’s Local On-Demand mini documentary of our Baja Project.
Pictures:
Custom steering box support plate and front control-arm attachment setup.
Rear coil-over installation provides 20 possible adjustment configurations with a maximum ground clearance of around 15 inches and suspension travel range of 6 to 10 inches.
Seatback and headrest upholstery completed by Clark’s Luggage & Shoe Repair.
Water-jet cut pedal assembly components fabricated by aluminum GTAW welding procedures.
Updated CAD model
This week SIAST finished modifying our engine CVT to fit properly on the engine. They welded an insert into the clutch (with a keyway) and then machined it to 1″ ID. The U of R Sciences Machine Shop finished the machining to allow the clutch to fit as close to the engine as possible. This also allowed us to design our engine mounting bracket which will be cut by Hydro Designs this week.
We also installed all of the lower control arms on the car. We mocked up the tabs on the frame using a MDF jig and then tacked them on with the tig welder. We then bolted the arms on using the poly bushings the Sciences Machine Shop turned for us.
Finally, after all the lower control arms were bolted on to the frame. We moved the frame off of the assembly table and mocked up the wheels and tires to get a feel of how the car will look once completed.
New additions to the vehicle include: a custom carved foam seat back, 5-point harness anchors, and mounting brackets for transmission & differential. Hydro Designs has fabricated a number of steel brackets for us which will allow us to complete a rolling chassis in the coming weeks. Once we are able to finish the machining of our CVT insert, it can be mated to the Briggs & Stratton, and mounted to the frame along with the other drive-line components.
