Raider’s Chassis is Coming Along Nicely

chassis

After seeing our last year’s car in competition last year, the SAE Baja team is designing Raider (our 2016 car) to be significantly different from its predecessor. The vehicle will be shorter by almost 20 inches and considerably lighter in an effort to achieve the agility that the competition series calls for. We’ve made good progress on our chassis in the past few weeks after measuring last year’s rigidity (both by SolidWorks simulation and real-world testing) and constructing a mock-cockpit out of PVC to get invaluable feedback on driver ergonomics. While there are still improvements to be made, we’re happy to say that we’ve already cut down our chassis weight by 20 lbs compared to last year!

It’s Alive!

2015 Oct. 10 Savage wheel off ground 3 (1)

After some late nights, we finally got Savage up and running again just in time for a day of testing at the track. Last weekend, Anteater Racing went out to a school parking lot where we set up a skid pad and an acceleration strip to run some last-minute tests before taking Savage back to the drawing board for some upgrades. All went until the first acceleration test, where we noticed that the rear rotor was jammed and started smoking. Despite a couple burns, we fixed the issue, got it up and running again, and achieved a skid pad time of 5.8 seconds. That’s not too bad considering that one wheels was in positive camber and another was lifting off the ground occasionally. We learned a lot – we determined what adjustments are needed for a 5.0-second skid pad time, and that toothpaste works wonders on burns. We’ll be bringing extra toothpaste next time, just in case.

UCI’s Baja SAE 2016 Vehicle Design is Well Under Way

2015-10-11 14.16.22_JPG

The 2016 Baja SAE competition may be eight months away, but this year’s team is already hard at work designing Raider, their 2016 vehicle. After participating in the 2015 competition last year with XV, UCI’s first Baja car in ten years, the team has gotten invaluable feedback that is being utilized to drastically improve the design of this year’s car. Among other changes, Raider will be switching to a semi-trailing arm rear suspension; the chassis will be narrowed, shortened, and made lighter; and the powertrain of the vehicle will be geared more towards an acceleration quicker than last year’s.

Pictured above is a new team member installing one of XV‘s front brake calipers after having disassembled and analyzed the suspension components more closely. As part of the team, student members develop skills like consideration of fabrication feasibility and packaging management that are frequently overlooked in traditional classrooms.

The 2016 Season Has Begun!

2016 Season Registrations

Earlier this week, Anteater Racing’s intents for the 2016 season became official when they signed three cars up for participation in the 2016 SAE Collegiate Design series. The Baja team will be competing in May in Gorman, CA with the all-new Raider, and both the FSAE Internal Combustion (IC) and FSAE Electric teams will be returning to Lincoln, NE in June with a completely-redone Savage and the all-new Electra, respectively.

This is the first time that Anteater Racing will be taking three cars to competition in a single season, meaning that 2016 will without a doubt be the program’s most exciting season yet!