Baja
Concordia BAJA Racing has a history of building off-road vehicles spanning for over 25 years. Every year, the BAJA team has to design a complete vehicle and build it in order to compete in official SAE Collegiate Design Series competitions, where we compete against other universities from across the world. While the engine is provided by SAE International, the team must design the chassis, suspension, and driveline systems to outperform competitors. Vehicles are tested to near destruction during several of six possible events: acceleration, suspension and traction, rock crawl, maneuverability, hill climb, sled pull, and finally a four-hour endurance race.
Baja Subsystems
Chassis & Ergonomics
Suspension & Steering
The chassis is designed to balance driver safety, driver comfort, and vehicle performance while ensuring proper integration of all other subsystems. The main concerns of the chassis design include; balancing roll cage weight and stiffness, improving manufacturing symmetry of the chassis as well as proper suspension point locating and integration.
The suspension dictates the handling of the car, its ability to cross rough terrains, and is typically the first thing to break in a race. The suspension must provide sufficiently agile handling while remaining lightweight, easy to service, and easy to manufacture
Brakes
Drivetrain
Stopping the vehicle is one of the simplest components of an off-road vehicle yet it is one of the most vital parts of any race car. It’s a safety measure to protect our driver and others from high-speed collisions, as well as a race advantage in tight corners and handling.
The goal of the drivetrain is to deliver torque and speed through to the wheels as efficiently and effectively as possible through the CVT and gearbox, as we are not allowed to modify the 10 Horsepower Briggs & Stratton engine. The Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) is a key aspect of the drivetrain, being used to balance top speed, and torque (for towing/climbing hills).
