Vehicle No.

103

Design of a Competition ATV for the 2011 SAE Baja Series

Monroe Community College, Rochester NY
Ronald George
Captain, Suspension Engineer

Carlo Inglese
Treasurer, Controls Engineer

Daniel Sze
Secretary, Powertrain Engineer
Copyright 2007 SAE International

ABSTRACT
The design of MCCs prototype baja vehicle is discussed
in this report. The paper is written for a general
audience and consists of an introduction summarizing
the goals and design approach, followed by a description
of vehicle systems present in the car. In places, relevant
research done by students pertaining is also included to
enhance subject matter. The appendix contains vehicle
specifications, relevant images, plots and calculations.

INTRODUCTION
In the summer of 2010, a group of new student leaders
were elected to the board of officers for the 2011 MCC
Baja Team. When the annual budget was made
available, the team registered itself into the 2011 SAE
Baja Illinois Competition as Car No. 103 Tribunes
Racing.
DESIGN PROBLEM Every product must serve a
purpose, otherwise no one would buy it. Team leaders
sourced this main purpose from the SAE Rulebook.[1]
MAN, MONEY, TIME The project was essentially a
systems engineering task. The automotive team was
broken down into four major departments without overly
dividing labor for a small group. The 12-person team
was structured into sub teams (Fig. D4). Financial
resources were divided among the various systems and
subsystems (Fig. D5) and a Gantt chart was designed
for the 9 month project (Fig. D6).
BRAINSTORMING & RESEARCH The project was
started with questions in order to explore every
possibility right away. Modest research was done to
understand the trends and safety issues in the ATV
industry. The team visited local ATV showrooms and
studied commercial catalogues. In preliminary design

meetings, the team

brainstormed ideas
and
benchmarked the competition by studying images and
competition videos. An early concept sketch that
resulted is shown in Fig. A1.
FUNCTIONAL OBJECTIVES The team sought to
design with a focused purpose and develop the
architecture with a logical process. The Rulebook
requirements, combined with research material and
ideas drawn from discussions among team patrons led
to the formulation of a broad set of requirements. These
requirements were graded for priority shown in Fig. A2.
ERGONOMICS & PACKAGING Ideation for the
packaging was driven first and foremost by the safety
and comfort needs of the driver. The geometry of the
th
95 percentile human along with some of the teams
drivers helped provide seating and control hard points.
After this, an envelope was created around the driver to
set up environment dimensions (Fig. A3).
PRODUCT ENGINEERING & FABRICATION
Prepared with a starting set of specifications (Fig. A4),
engineering could proceed. In the following pages, each
vehicle system is described and the choices behind
designs justified on the basis of cost, time,
manufacturing ease, and structural considerations.

ERGONOMICS
OBJECTIVE The SAE rulebook calls for a vehicle
th
design accommodating all individuals between 95
th
percentile male to the 5 percentile female. The goal
was to design a vehicle which would fit humans in this
range so that the machine could achieve near universal
operability. This had positive implications from a design
and marketability standpoint.
RESEARCH Motor vehicle operation is a set of control
tasks. Control movements are easiest when the limbs

are moderately flexed and extreme body positions

avoided. Some clues as to what optimum to shoot for
were discovered in equipment design research. [2]
Some interesting information gleaned from the study
was as follows:

design a practical structure that did not hinder an

emergency escape. Finally, different side impact
member heights were explored to locate the optimal
position for egress and protection during a rock crawl
event.

1. The best elbow angle for exerting force in the seated

position is approximately 120.
2. For heavy loads, the radius of hand operated wheels
should not exceed 20 or fall below 7.
3. For control pedal operation, the long axis of the feet
and lower leg should form a 90 angle as this
requires the least muscular effort to hold in place.
4. Where rapid, continued pedal movements are
required, the pedal should be toe operated, with the
fulcrum at the base of the heel.
5. The leg exerts maximum force with the knee angle
at about 130-150.
6. When maximum pedal pressures are sought, the
fore-and-aft seat reference point to pedal distance
should be about 47.5% of the height of the driver.
When great force is not needed, the distance should
be increased for comfort.
7. As pedals are moved laterally from the midline of the
body in plan view, force exerted decreases. It falls to
90% when the pedal is placed 3 to either side; to
73% with a 6.7 shift; and to a 63% with a 10.2 shift.
Hence, it should not be placed more than 3-5 from
the midline.
8. For frequently but not continuously used leg
operated pedals like the brake, a pressure of about
30% of maximum exertable is reasonable. For
continuous usage pedals like the accelerator,
resistance should not exceed 10 pounds. For toe
operated pedals, the best resistance is from 6.5 to 9
pounds.
9. Pedals operated by ankle action should have a
maximum travel of 2, corresponding to an angle of
10-12. When heavy footgear is anticipated, pedal
travel should be increased.
10. For all foot controls, the direction of travel should be
down, or away from the body, in line with the long
axis of the lower leg and roughly parallel to the midsagittal plane of the body.

SEATING A custom Kirky seat is used to increase

driver comfort. It is made of MIG welded .125 thick 5052
grade aluminum. The seat is as low as practical in the
vehicle to lower center of gravity (c.o.g). From practical
experimentation, the previous cars c.o.g was measured
to be 22 +/- 2. It was deemed desirable to decrease
this to 20 to reduce possibility of roll-over. The seats
from previous years led to distraction because the rib
supports tightened unsuitably around the drivers rib
cage. Hence, the existing seat was modified by the
fabrication group. In the process, 5 pounds of weight in
metal was dropped. Students also decided that a tub-like
seating envelope around the driver would be an optimal
plan. This not only increased driver comfort by adding to
the range of motion of leg movement but also modeled
the exterior of the Baja car like a hull for future water
competitions.

STATIC FIT Armed with research knowledge, student

designers began by obtaining physique data of the
intended operators. The test subjects - 3 males and one
female - were given standard racing gear to wear and
were sat against a mock firewall oriented at 20 from the
vertical. Important parameters like hip joint height, kneetorso angle, knee angle, thigh-seat angle, degree of
ankle bend, head to roof clearance, elbow and wrist
angles were explored.
DYNAMIC FIT Drivers were moved from their static
positions until muscle tension, such as on wrist, ankle
and the under part of the thigh were eased. The drivers
were made to flex and abduct their elbows to explore the
envelope of hand control. The range of visibility was also
checked in order to design a non-obstructive front
bracing structure. Driver egress was mocked in order to

CAD MODEING The hard points obtained through the

above exercise were then transferred to Solid works.
CAD designers on the team used these points to create
datum planes that the structural features of the vehicle
would reference.
ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED:
1. In the CAD design stage, designers could have
th
employed a generic 95 male 3D model. However,
this alone was deemed insufficient since the model
wasnt representative of a fully geared driver nor did
it account for gender variation.
2. The population sample size for fit analysis could
have been increased. However, from the teams
standpoint, this would entail an unprofitable
expenditure of time and effort.
3. 3D laser scanners are used by some schools to
model part geometry to custom fit a driver. [3] While
this is certainly attractive, it would incur unnecessary
costs.

POWERTRAIN
OBJECTIVE - The design goal in this department was to
produce a 40:1 overall transmission ratio power system
that is reliable, serviceable, safe and easy to
manufacture. Following is a description of the major
systems comprising the powertrain.
ENGINE The air-cooled engine used on the car is a 4
3
stroke, 18.64 in (305cc) displacement Briggs & Stratton
motor of Over Head Valve type (OHV). It is supplied to
teams by Briggs and Stratton at sponsored cost and is to
remain stock as per the Rulebook. [4] It has a .75 keyway PTO shaft as output and a compression ratio of 8.0
to 1. The engine weighs roughly 64 lbs. Engine idle RPM
is set to 1750 RPM. At competition, the governor is
usually set at max 3800 RPM, well below its RPM

capabilities. This is done for safety reasons so that the

engine does not reach lethal speeds and destroy itself.

an low drive ratio of 4.5:1 and a high of 1:1 when the

secondary is fully engaged.

Power and torque Engine output has two components

power and torque. Power is important for the baja
vehicle to perform under steady loads while torque gives
the car the ability to cope with sudden loads. The engine
has an advertised maximum torque of 19.65 N.m (14.5
ft.lbs) and a nominal power rating of 10 hp. However,
data from an actual dyno test was in order. Due to lack
of dyno facilities in the area that could supply us with
printed graphs, test data was obtained from another
team to help with tuning (Fig. C3).

Belts Power and torque transmission is carried out via

a rubber V-belt. Due to the adjustable engine plate,
multiple center-center belts can be used in this system,
from 8 c-c all the way to 9 c-c

Fuel and oil The engine has an oil capacity of 28 fl. oz

(0.77 L) and a fuel capacity of 4 qts (3.78L). As
recommended by Briggs, 5W-20 oil is used for
lubrication. This oil behaves like a 5-weight oil during
cold weather starts and gives the protection of 20-weight
at high temperatures. It also has a float carburetor for
consistent easy starting. A custom removable fuel tank is
made out of .125 aluminum sheet for rapid and spill-free
refueling. The fuel consumption in gallons per hour at a
particular load level could be an important parameter for
pit crew. This data was able to be obtained through good
record keeping of past engineering data. See Fig. C1.
Engine plate A custom engine plate is designed to seat
the engine. The plate allows the user to adjust the
engine 1 inch fore and aft as it has parallel counter
bored slots. This allows flexibility in use of multiple CVT
center-center belts and allows for optimum CVT tuning.
The engine is mounted to the plate using either 5/16-18
UNC or 5/16-24 UNF bolts, grade 5 or better.
Noise, Vibration, Harshness (NVH) It is the nature of
single cylinder 4-stroke engines to vibrate. To dampen
these vibrations, a thin layer of vibration resistant rubber
is applied between the engine plate and the rollcage.
Noise is one of the most common occupational health
hazards and it is not uncommon for machine operators
to complain because of its fatiguing nature. [5] To
provide one solution in this area, the exhaust muffler can
be changed to a less noisy one. The noise level at 4
meters away from the engine varies as a function of
RPM and load for a given muffler (Fig.C2). A 2.5 to 3%
reduction in db(A) levels can be attained by using Super
Lo-Tone muffler, which is why it was chosen for the
exhaust of this vehicle. For perspective, the standard for
street-legal exhaust noise emissions in motorcycles is 80
dB (A). [6]
CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE TRANSMISSION The
torque transferring CVT used is a descendant of drag
racing clutch, made especially for mini baja applications
by Gaged Engineering in Nebraska. This system is
primarily made out of aluminum and has one of the
lightest overall weights at roughly 10 lbs +/- 1 lb.
Transmission Ratios - The GX8 clutch system has a
primary with pulleys of 5.5 diameter and a secondary
with pulleys of 7.5 diameter pulleys. The clutch provides

Serviceability A special inner post is used in the

secondary CVT that allows the use of a splined 1 OD
jackshaft. This system is easy to install and disassemble
compared to Woodruff keys.
Justification - A CVT was chosen because theoretically,
a tuned system will shift out at the peak power output of
the engine, thereby yielding an efficient system. [7] In
discrete-gear transmissions, lesser time is spent at the
power peak during shifts. Given equal power to weight
ratios, a vehicle with a tuned CVT should theoretically
outperform a stick shift system. CVTs are not cheap,
especially the Gaged model. However, to save on
financial resources, last years model was re-used as it
had no perceivable problems other than light scuff marks
on the Primary pulleys.
CVT Case - The CVT case is a 1/8 in. thick rectangular
box made of 6061-T6 aluminum in a welded
construction. It has two holes in it for the engine shaft
input and the jack shaft output which interfaces with the
Secondary. The box itself is made out of 1/8 thick 6061
aluminum sheet metal welded together to allow a 1
clearance on all sides for the CVT itself. A rectangular
box is easier to manufacture than a curved box.
PLANETARY GEARBOX The design features a
reduction gearbox after the CVT secondary stage to
bring down RPM to usable levels. A 5:1 gearbox from
MATEX Gears is featured on the car. This is the most
compact inline planetary gearbox offered on the market.
The 5:1 system offers high reduction, while keeping
weight and moment of inertia balanced.
Planetary Case - The gearbox is encased within a
custom made case. It is designed in a way to allow CNC
milling on a stock 6061 billet without any welding
required at all. The case is robust and works for the
vehicle needs.
CHAIN DRIVE - With 4.5:1 in the CVT and 5:1 in
planetary, the desired overall ratio was targeted by a 2:1
chain drive system. The system features a steel,
hardened 17T sprocket and an aluminum 38T sprocket.
The driver sprocket was held on the splined jackshaft
with a retainer ring and a threaded nut. The driven
sprocket was positioned on the splined axle using a
custom made sprocket holder that was specially
designed to withstand torsional stresses. Power is
transmitted using a standard 428 motorcycle chain. The
chain has a pitch of 0.50 in. and a tensile strength rating
of 23.6 kN (5300 lbs). The theoretical chain load
calculated at max power transmission is approximately
3.2KN (724 lbs) (Fig C3).

Chain tensioning & alignment Through many past

failures, the design team is appreciative of the damage a
50 inch long motorcycle chain can do. At full load,
without proper tensioning, not only will power not be
transmitted, but weak sprockets, their holders and
connecting spline work can be torn apart.
After many trials and errors with different designs, a
simple delrin wheel tensioner is used to remove the
slack in the chain. The drive system is tensioned to
ensure a 1 in. sag height at the mid portion of the drive
system. To ensure alignment in the chain drive system,
a motorcycle chain aligner is used to inspect the
installation.
Chain case The chain drive is encased within a 3/16
thick 6061 aluminum sheet metal case that is welded
together. The case is thick to ensure a robust case that it
impervious to damage from side impacts and rocks.
Equivalency graph is displayed in Fig.C6.
JACKSHAFTS - The CVT and planetary gearbox are
connected by a 1 in. diameter primary jackshaft. The
secondary jackshaft transfers power from the gearbox to
the driving gear. At this end, it is supported by a double
bearing housing that butts up against the collar of the
shaft and a single bearing housing which the side end
nut bolts to. The bearings are 2x1x0.5625 that are
rated up to 1400 lbs. The jackshaft passes through the
pivot of the swing arm. The concentric pivot system
ensures that the chain drive follows the arc of the swing
arm, rendering constant chain centers. This prevents
excessive chain slackening and the need for elaborate
tensioning schemes as seen on some motorcycles.
ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED:
1. An alternative solution was to forgo the planetary
altogether and apply all the reduction into the final
chain drive system. This would dictate larger sizes
for the sprockets sizes, leading to the possibility of
damage due to ground clearance issues.
2. Discussion was made about applying soundproofing materials such as polyether, urethanebased, thermo-acoustic foam on the sides of the
CVT case. However, due to lack of time and
complexity, it was not pursued. Definitely, this area
has room for new ideas and maybe pursued by the
design team in future.
3. Another alternative solution was to use lighter chains
to decrease the weight of the final drive. However,
with a load analysis, it was found that lighter chains
cannot withstand the load and torque variations in
the drive system reliably given their capacities.
4. An HDPE plastic chain case was proposed. This is
certainly an attractive solution, however more study
needs to be done in order to understand how the
case would be manufactured and then fastened
together.
5. Considerable time was spent on studying the
feasibility of a belt drive. While it certainly has high
tensile strength, the belt is not forgiving to dirt, and
improper tensioning. It is also weak in the abrasion

resistance area. Hence, the benefit of the doubt was

given to the chain this year.

SUSPENSION
OBJECTIVE The goal of suspension design is to help
the wheels put traction onto the ground while keeping
tire scrub to a minimum. It should reduce vibrations
imparted to the sprung mass while providing adequate
chassis to ground clearance. It should prevent
uncomfortable pitching moments, and excessive squat
and dive during transient conditions of acceleration and
deceleration. It will be subjected to both low speed
vibrations and high loading from jumps so linkages must
be structurally sound. Another important goal was to
keep linkages and joints in the system to a minimum so
as to reduce complexity, friction and slop.
REAR SUSPENSION The rear suspension chosen is a
classic twin-shock swing arm with solid axle that has
proven very durable over the past 5 years. Though it is a
non-independent suspension, it features less moving
parts, is easy to manufacture and has high roll stiffness.
Vehicle dynamics suggests that such a system will
induce rear over-steer which has been validated through
observations, at least on off-road terrain.
Swingarm System 1.00 x3.00 x.065 mild steel
rectangular tubing was used for the trailing arms and
diagonal support beams with a 3.00 OD x .065 thick
mild steel tube for the cross tube. The drive axle was run
through the cross tube, which was placed at the end of
the side beams. The shape of the swing arm
arrangement resembled the letter U. The swingarm is
mounted to the firewall on a triangular sheet metal
bracket and fixed in place with a delrin-metal sleeve
combination for smooth movement. The weight of the
system is around 30 lbs.
Shocks A pair of 7 inch. stroke coil-over shocks were
selected to provide progressive vibration dampening.
Shocks were supplied by AFCO. The 16 series small
body gas shock comes with a slender 1 diameter
aluminum mono-tube body and an external reservoir. It
has a coil-over kit and 2 OD springs. Dampening
adjustment is provided for both low speed compression
and rebound. Dual springs were suitably selected to
provide a progressive support and to provide a desired
natural frequency of 1.4 Hz. Mounting brackets for these
shocks were oriented along the axis of the shock body
so as to reduce bending moments.
Rear Axle One of the goals of rear suspension design
was to decrease wheel track. Therefore, a 51 center to
center sprint car axle was selected from Hyper Racing.
This is one of the lightest axles on the market. It is made
out of heat treated aluminum and is 2 outer diameter. It
features a swaged construction to save weight,
shoulders for bearing support and involute splined ends
for wheel mounting.

WHEELPATH - The swingarm was mounted on the RRH

at a height of 10 in. from the bottom frame member of
the car. The higher the swingarm is mounted, the more
rearward is the wheelpath. Thus, the wheel can acts
naturally in the direction of oncoming bumps. This is
similar to how mountain bikes are designed. The final
mounting point height led to a wheelpath tangency angle
of 8.
TRAVEL Ride height is determined by the height of the
solid axle from the ground, which is 10 inches. Designed
up travel is 5 inches and droop travel is 6.5 inches.
ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED:
1. Independent rear suspension was proposed several
times among team members. However, the system
has some strong cons. First, independent
suspensions have more moving parts because it
dictates the need for a custom gearbox design,
CV/half-shafts, additional linkages, fasteners and
custom wheel uprights. Secondly, due to the
complexity of the semi-trailing and a-arm suspension
systems, more design time is involved in getting the
geometry right. Due to time constraints, it is possible
for a designer to overlook the importance of roll
center placement. Incorrect roll center placement in
the rear suspension can lead to jacking and sluggish
suspension behavior. To combat this problem, an
often sought out solution is to restrain the system
using anti-sway bars. However, by doing this, the
independence of the suspension is reduced which
defeats the initial design goal. Moreover, CV shafts
have to be designed and oriented properly to deliver
power. It is not uncommon to see these shafts
breaking catastrophically on the field because of
poor oversight. Thus, it was decided that
independent suspension should be a future subject
exploration.
2. KING remote reservoir shocks were considered for
the rear with the thinking that they would be a
sturdier system to support the rear end. After a unit
was bought and analyzed, it was deemed too big for
use and was returned. The customer service was
not too accomodating either.

FRONT SUSPENSION The front suspension chosen

is a double wishbone design. The system comprises of
steering knuckle, linkages, their geometry and the
shocks. The following discussion describes these
components.
Suspension Wishbones - A short-long arm suspension
was chosen for the front of the vehicle. These arms,
called wishbones, are made out of 1 in. OD 4130 steel.
The upper wishbone, which takes less stress, has a
thickness of 0.049 and a length of 15.5 from pivot
center to outboard mounting center. The lower one is
0.065 thick and 17.5 in length from pivot to outboard
mounting center. The outboard ends of both arms have
a threaded tube adaptor that is press fit and welded to
the wishbone body. These adaptors receive the rod end.

The wishbones were designed to be asymmetrical in

splay (Fig. B1). One leg is straight while the other leg is
splayed. When installed on the car, the angle of the
splayed leg gives enhanced clearance at the front as
protection in a collision. Each wishbone has a base
mounting width of 10. This decreases tension and
compression forces in the individual legs on loading and
provides adequate clearance to fit a standard coilover
shock. Each wishbone was made using one single pass
on a tube bender. The manufacturing ease comes also
from another factor. While setting up the arms for
fabrication, the straight leg of the wishbone provides a
good datum for reference.
Bushings For the inboard side of the wishbone, a
delrin-metal bushing sleeve is used. The bushing is
press-fit into a 4130 tube that is welded to the wishbone
body. The entire assembly is held together by a hollow
metal pin through which a bolt is run and fastened.
The reasons for choosing bushings are twofold. A)
Bushings are have a certain amount of compliancy and
can be expected to absorb some of the vibrations,
preventing them from being transferred to the unsprung
chassis. B) Delrin is a load bearing plastic, is easy to
machine and has good dimensional stability in
manufacturing processes. [9] When many units of the
same bushing are made, it is important that tolerances in
plastic pieces do not vary considerably.
Rod ends For the outboard side of the wishbone, 20 TPI VCAM-8 male rod end bearings are used. These
were sourced from Aurora Bearings. This rod end is a
two piece rod end having 10 degrees range of motion
per side. Using a 3/8 bolt through each rod end, with
high misalignment spacers, afforded the vehicle a
deflection 20 degrees per side. The rod ends are rated
for an ultimate radial static load capacity of 13425 lbs.
Since the front suspension application is a slowly
oscillating scenario of less than 100 RPM, careful
attention was put in ensuring that suspension loads
would not exceed 15% of the radial static load capacity,
or roughly 2000 lbs [8]. The steering knuckle design,
described below, ensures that bending loads are not
applied to the threads of the rod ends.
Steering Knuckle The steering knuckle design is an
evolution of past years design. The knuckle is
constructed out of 6061-T6 aluminum, a bold departure
from steel construction. The bearing is positioned inside
the knuckle, the splined body of which is positioned on a
stub axle. The axle has a positive stop at one end to
locate the wheel and a threaded end at the other to take
a lock nut. This center lock nut is drilled across its body
to accept a slide pin, which ensures that the nut doesnt
loosen in vibratory situations. The geometry of the
knuckle went through 2 iterations and a round of FEA
analysis. This was to ensure that the part topology was
suitable for easy manufacture, and had the ability of
withstanding combined static loading, emergency brake
torque and fatigue (Fig. B3). Mounting brackets of the
steering knuckle interface with the rod ends on the
wishbone and steering rods to position them in double

shear. There is an offset in the upper and lower

mounting brackets to yield a kingpin angle of 5.7
degrees to the suspension geometry. Due to this angle,
scrub radius is reduced from the 2 that it was in the past
years car to 1.5 - a 25% reduction. By reducing the
scrub radius, steering feedback should theoretically
decrease, aiding in comfort for both a driver and a crew
member walking the vehicle.
Mounting brackets The mounting bracket design for
the front shock, on the wishbone side, is robust because
the bracket is positioned on both the shock tube and the
curved end of the wishbone (Fig B1). This gives it more
surface area for setup and welding. The mounting
bracket on the rollcage is designed to orient it along the
axis of the shock. All mounting brackets were made out
of 0.125 thick sheet steel with a bending radius of 0.25.
They were laser cut and CNC bent by Canon Industries.
Shocks A pair of AFCO 7 stroke coil-over shocks
were selected to provide progressive vibration
dampening in the front. The body dimensions were
described before. Dual springs were suitably selected to
provide a progressive support and rendered a natural
frequency of 1.2 Hz, which is about 16% lesser than the
rear suspension frequency. This discrepancy was
adopted to make the rear suspension quicker so that
pitching would be avoided, given a wheelbase of 60 and
an average speed of 28 mph. The shocks were mounted
on lower wishbone, closer to the wheel end to reduce
bending moments.
TRACK AND TRAVEL Static track width is set at 55.
This was determined from the need to fit on a customers
pick-up truck bed, if the need came for the vehicle to be
hauled. A narrow car is also agile in turns. Ride height is
determined by the height of the front end chassis bottom
to the ground, which is set at 12. Designed up travel is
5.5 and droop travel is 6. There is more droop to aid in
wheel traction while negotiating pits.
WHEELPATH The in-board mounting orientation of the
wishbones is 10 degrees from horizontal. Like the rear
wheels, the front wheels are designed to recede on
suspension compression in elevation view.
CASTOR - The 10 degree steering axis angle, as noted
above, gives a castor trail of 1.8. Positive trail and tire
side force due to slip angle combine to produce a selfrestoring torque to produce some amount of straight line
stability. This was keyed in after experimentation and
from experience. The designers believe that excessive
castor angles beyond 10-12 degrees are not needed as
the vehicle does not lean into a turn like a motorcycle to
benefit from it. Moreover, it creates other issues. A)
Excessive castor can make the steering feel heavy and
less responsive. B) Excessive castor angles may
transmit more vibration jar to the driver. C) Big angles
can create structural complications when fabricating a
roll cage.

SCRUB, CAMBER The short-long arm front

suspension induces camber variation and tire scrub.
Careful attention was given to engineer a suitable
camber profile that prevents tire wear while helping
adequately with traction performance on cornering. From
video studies of similar vehicles on rough terrain using
Logger Pro, vehicle roll angles ranged from 0-10
degrees and depends a lot of on vehicle design and
setup of the car suspension. Constraining roll to
acceptable ranges ensures that wheel camber does not
adversely affect the tires. The wishbone lengths and
configurations were chosen to keep tire scrub to a
minimum. In maximum parallel suspension bump, the
static wheel track can be expected to increase by +2
while in maximum parallel droop, a change of -3.5 can
be expected. The worst case scenario is a diagonal
bump-droop configuration where the wheel track change
is +4. These numbers may be taken into account while
scheduling a tire maintenance program.
TOE 1.24 of thread is available on the suspension rod
ends make adjustments to wheel toe. Toe is adjusted by
turning the rod ends to a suitable position. Hex nuts
provide a positive lock to the assembly after adjustment.
ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED:
1. Most of the suspension analysis is done from a
purely kinematic, rigid body type analysis. To check
the effect of bushing compliances, high level physics
software like MSC Adams will have to be used. The
team looks forward to orienting itself to student
version of this software in future.
2. Welded construction was suggested for the
wishbones, however bending was attractive from
both a manufacturing and cost perspective.

WHEELS
OBJECTIVE - The goal of the wheel choice was to
provide a durable interface between the vehicle, tire and
terrain. Durability, traction and weight were the deciding
factors in the choice of these tires. But ease of
installation cannot be overlooked so this was also a
central factor in their selection.
Rims - The vehicle runs on 10x5 rims on all four
corners. The rims were provided by Hiper Technologies.
Previous cars have used the .190 wall aluminum rims
with mixed results. While they were lightweight, they
lacked the ability to take the punishment from the terrain.
Aluminum rims are deformable upon direct impact. 75%
of the aluminum rims the team had used in the past have
been bent or crushed under aggressive driving. To
remedy this problem, the team switched to carbon
reinforced rims with bead locks. This allows the rim
toward slightly under hard impacts and return to its
original form. The rims also include a bead lock ring to
retain tire bead seating under hard lateral loads.

TIRES
OBJECTIVE Tires are an integral part of the
suspension system. A change of 5-10psi of pressure can
make perceivable effects on handling, rolling resistance
and anti-bottoming capability. The contact patches
deliver the tractive force needed to propel the vehicle. All
lateral cornering loads are transmitted through the tires.
As the tires perform very important functions, the
objective of the selection process is to pick a set that
offers optimum performance in both wet and dry
conditions, while being lightweight, nimble in
acceleration and durable throughout its demanded life.
Selection Process - The selection of tires for the car was
somewhat of an arduous process. There were several
factors and variables that were considered before a final
selection was made. Not only is there a myriad of tire
sizes available, there also exists many different lug
designs and tread patterns designed for use in a variety
of track conditions. The ideal tire would be a good
compromise between wet and dry traction, and also one
that would perform well in the rock crawl environment at
Illinois.
Rear tires - Interco Swamp Lite ATV tire is chosen for
the front, in a size of 22-8-10. The outside diameter of
the tire is selected to provide the vehicle with adequate
ground clearance at the compromise of some added
rotational inertia. Having a wider tire helps envelope pits
in a rock crawl event. Considering that the Peoria, IL
competition takes place in the middle of June, it can be
assumed that conditions will be mostly dry. This
assumption came from assessing the citys weather
history. The Swamp Lite is a choice that offers a
compromise between wet and dry performance, because
it still maintains a somewhat chevron shaped tread, but it
also has large sidewall tread blocks that will be
beneficial in hard packed dirt and the rock crawl
competition.
Front Tires - At the front, Maxxis M934 RAZR ATV tires
were used in the 21x7-10 size. These are similar to the
previous years Titan AT 489 tires but with drastic
improvements. These tires are 6 ply in nature. At 13 lbs
per tire they are one of the lightest tires on the market. A
pendulum type test was performed on the set of these
tires in-house. By measuring the period of the swinging
tire and doing a bit of math, it was found that its moment
2
of inertia is 1.8 lb.ft . In future, we hope to do more tests
to compare its standing with other tires in our inventory.
ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED:
1. Tires intended for use in thick mud were considered.
They have a chevron-shaped tread pattern,
designed to sling mud out from underneath the tire
as it spins at high speed. The scooping effect of this
style of tire is very effective, but at the loss of
traction in drier conditions. The contact patch of a
mud tire is much smaller than one designed for on
road, or hard packed dirt conditions.

2. Perfect hard pack tires were also considered. This

tire is one that uses numerous small tread blocks, to
increase the overall contact patch, and provide "bite"
into the earth similar to that of a rugged work boot.
These tires offer minimal performance in mud due to
their inability to do the aforementioned slinging of
mud, and they often end up caked with mud,
drastically reducing their effectiveness to propel the
vehicle. For the final consideration of rock crawl
performance, where the track consists of large rocks
and boulders, it was deemed wise to select a tire
with as many large tread blocks as possible so they
can grip and crawl over the rocks as best as
possible. Obviously a smooth tire would not be
preferred here.

BRAKES
OBJECTIVE - The goal of the braking system was to
provide good pedal feel/travel, effective braking
distance, while reducing brake drag.
MASTER CYCLINDERS - To conform to the rules set
forth, an individual braking circuit is employed for each
axle. A pair of Wilwood's 260-2636 Girling style master
cylinders is used. The 5/8 Bore provides adequate
hydraulic pressure to actuate the brake calipers with
minimal pedal effort. The master cylinders are actuated
using the Wilwood 340-5180 reverse swing mount brake
pedal. Both master cylinders are mounted to the pedal
bracket. To vary the amount of force applied between
the two master cylinders, the balance bar on the pedal
assembly can be adjusted, to suitably divide braking
force between the front and rear braking circuits. To fine
tune this calibration, an adjustable proportioning valve is
also used in series with the brake lines. Though all
wheels must be able to be fully locked upon heavy
braking, it is possible to slow the vehicle with light pedal
pressure by applying more of the pressure to the front
brakes. The rears will be able to spin freely, and allow
for a theoretically faster acceleration after braking.
BRAKE ROTORS - Martin Custom Products
manufactured the brake rotors seen in this vehicle. The
rotors are .200" inches thick, with an outside diameter of
7. The diameter was chosen for front wheel packaging
reasons and the thickness was dictated by the caliper
specifications. It was also used because it has no slots
or holes cut into it. It was the experience of previous
teams that dirt and mud serves as an abrasive to brake
pads. In muddy environments it was found that the mud
would occupy the slots and/or holes, and score the pads
excessively.
BRAKE CALIPERS - The final, crucial components of
the braking system are the calipers. Since the SAE Baja
application does not call for not a high speed, heavy duty
brakes, we chose the Wilwood PS-1 caliper due to its
compact size, light weight, and low cost. It is a single
piston caliper, but it is more than adequate for the
vehicle. Multiple piston calipers would likely be too
powerful, and cause the wheels to lock with even the

slightest pedal pressure. The calipers are also compact,

to provide enough clearance with the wheels that were
selected.
HARDWARE - All brake hardware was made to AN
spec. This was chosen to reduce the confusion of using
different types of fittings together. By using this system,
the number of fittings needed to plumb the cars brake
system together was reduced. Flexible brake lines were
also used at the A-arms and the swing arm. They were
made as short as possible to reduce pedal sponginess.
ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED - A single, dual circuit
master cylinder was considered but physical size and
available piston sizes were limited. The packaging of
these items prevented them from working with the cars
current configuration. Hence, the idea was disqualified. It
was also suggested that cutting brakes be used. While
the Rulebook does not prohibit the use of cutting brakes,
it was decided to postpone their use to future in order to
study their effects on driver performance.

STEERING
OBJECTIVE - The goal of the steering system was to
provide a system with quick steer ratio, a balanced
feedback response and limiting bump steer to a
minimum in crucial areas of the suspension cycle.
STEERING RACK AND STEERING WHEEL A rack
and pinion steering setup from Stiletto Products is
chosen in the vehicle. Its quick steer ratio of 6.4:1 is
ideal for quick steering in maneuverability and rock crawl
conditions. The rack is placed in front of the wheel stub
axle to work with the steering knuckle design. The rack
is placed 2.5 above the center of the lower frame tube
in the suspension compartment. This distance was
arrived after geometrical treatments to reduce bump
steer. A 13 diameter steering wheel serves as the
control interface between the car and driver.
TIE RODS 13 in. tie rods made out of 7/8 in. OD 6061
drawn tubing is used to provide the push-pull steering
force to the wheels. They are made by AFCO. The rods
are heat treated and anodized for strength and
aesthetics. The rod has a LH 5/8-18 thread at one end
and a RH 5/8-18 thread at the other. This ensures that
the length can be adjusted and locked in using 5/8-18
jam nuts sourced from Fastenal.
ROD ENDS ALM-10 5/8-18 RH rod ends were used on
the outboard side of the tie rods. These link up the rods
to the steering knuckle and complete the steering
system. A generic 5/8-18 LH rod end was used for the
inboard side of the tie rod.

CHASSIS
OBJECTIVE - The goal in designing the chassis was to
produce a low weight, structurally sound space mounting
bracket for all the major components listed above. The
cage must be capable of safely and efficiently dispersing

loads throughout the entire vehicle. It must also be

th
accommodating of all anthropometrics from the 95
th
percentile male to the 5 percentile female while they
are in their full racing gear.
ROLLCAGE The rollcage features an all-metal
construction. Design was carried out with ergonomics,
ease of construction and cost in mind. Careful
optimization of the tubing led to a 20 lb weight decrease
compared to previous frames.
Primary Members Critical areas were constructed out
of primary tubing. These areas are firewall hoop, front
bracing members, shock supper tower, over head hoop,
seat belt members, side impact members and rear
engine envelope. The optimization analysis plots (Fig D2
& D3) suggests that the most lightweight tubing for
primary members that would meet SAE strength
requirements was 1.125 OD 4130 with 0.083 wall
thickness. However, this size is not picked for rollcage
construction mainly because of two reasons. A) This size
was not offered by the supplier, Aircraft Spruce. B) The
die needed to bend such tubing is not readily at the time.
Thus, for time and cost reasons, a stock size of 1.25
OD tubing at 0.065 wall thickness was selected. This
difference in weight/foot of this tube compared to the
optimal solution is negligible.
Mounting brackets Generic mounting brackets were
designed to mount the body panels and seat. They are
made out of .125 in. thick sheet steel and were laser cut
by Cannon Industries.
Secondary Members Internal bracing members for the
side impact members, under seat members and firewall
are made out of secondary members. At 1 OD and
0.065 wall thickness, they comply with the SAE
regulations. The supplier was Aircraft Spruce.
Construction - The primary members have 6 radius
bends while the secondary members have 3.5 bend
radius. A combination of hydraulic and manual bending
was used to attain desired geometry. Bends were used
in places to give a more aesthetic appearance to the
overall structure. Gussets were used in places to
enhance structural support. Finally, tubing end caps
were welded to open areas of the roll cage to prevent
water and dirt entry.
Notches Fish mouth notches were made using a 1
roughing mill supplied by Victor Machinery. The setup
time was longer; however it was accepted because the
notches were easier to cut and was consistent due to the
special cutting geometry of the tool. This ensured a
clean and close fit between joined members.
Welding - All members are TIG welded together due to
the availability of equipment and mastery of technique by
student welders. Prior to welding, welders practiced on
stock tubing and then checked for weld integrity and
penetration by destructive testing the tubes. Rollcage
tubing was cut, deburred and cleaned and later setup on

a flat welding table with jigs. Careful attention was

placed in restricting the heat affected zone to a narrow
area. A wire wheel and sanding paper was used to
smoothen the beads post welding.
In-house manufacturing - All operations, such as
bending, cutting, welding etc were carried out in house
at the institution. Contracting an outside establishment
as was done in the past is great for time and
convenience but little is learnt in the process.
Thermal Processing Heat treatment ensures uniform
material property in the chassis after bending and
welding operations. It also increases the yield strength
and fatigue limit due to the fact that a desired hardness
can be specified. Hardness was selected after studying
hardness versus fatigue limit plots. To balance
compliance with hardness, 35 Rockwell C was specified
to the Body Cote facility in Rochester. Oil quenching was
also specified to ensure that the metal did not cool too
fast which can result in cracking. The team left the rest
of the process to Body Cote since they were experts at
it.
Paint The paint on the frame features the institutions
colors of black accentuated with yellow. Power coating
is specified for the rollcage. Powder coating chosen
because of strong reasons. A) It is environmentally clean
B) The paint is durable which makes it a good choice for
a rugged vehicle. C) Due to the geometry of the rollcage,
paint has to be applied both vertically and horizontally.
Powder coating produced a consistent surface with little
distinction in both these directions. D) In a plant making
4000 units of this vehicle, paint equipment costs can add
up. Capital equipment and operating costs for a powder
line are generally less than for conventional liquid lines.
Power coating maybe stubborn for removal, however
special liquids such as benzyl alcohol and techniques
such as sand blasting can effectively remove the paint.
The advantages outweigh the cons and this decided its
use for the rollcage and suspension wishbones.
BODY PANELS Body panels accentuate the shape of
the roll cage. To increase the ruggedness of the vehicle
in off-road terrain, the body panels needed resilience
and light weight. To attain these features, the best
compromise was HPDE plastic. A .125 in. plastic piece
was used for the bash plate. .0625 thick panels are
used to cover the sides, roof and nose. Panels are made
cutting them on a saw and then bent using an industrial
heat gun. They are fastened to the rollcage mounting
brackets using quarter turn fasteners, which provide a
quick, easy way to service the vehicle. Only the firewall
on the vehicle is metal to comply with the SAE rules. It is
made out of 0.020 inch. thick sheet aluminum and
fastened using dzus type fasteners.
ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED:
1. Some time was devoted to researching what is
called butted metal tubing. This type of tubing has
thinner wall in the middle and thicker wall at the
ends. This is the de-facto standard used in steel

bicycle construction to cut weight. Attaining tubing of

such geometry for a rollcage may only a dream
because such tubing is very expensive. Moreoever,
suppliers stock them in certain pre-cut lengths
mainly for the bicycle construction applications..
2. The first iteration of the rollcage (Fig. B5) featured
aesthetic curves at the front end of the car.
Manufacturing considerations told designers that
there was no tubing die available in-shop to create
these shapes. Moreover, the exercise would be
fruitless as bending such sharp angles without giving
bend allowance would lead to buckling failure.
Hence, a boxier design for the front end was settled
upon.

ELECTRICAL
OBJECTIVE The goal of the electrical system is to
wire up key safety components on the vehicle such as
the kill switches and brake light. The wiring scheme will
provide an easy to install pathway between source, load
and ground.
KILLSWITCH Two SAE approved kill switches are
incorporated in the vehicle. One kill switch is provided for
the driver and the other for a crew member. The engine
was wired to the kill switches using instructions provided
by Briggs and Stratton. In previous cars, the driver side
kill switch was located to the right side on the SIM.
Common sense told us that in this position, the driver
would leave his hold on the steering wheel to extend his
hand to the switch. In this years car, the kill switch is
mounted near the steering wheel on the steering wheel
mounting tube. This way, the driver can operate the
switch with minimal loss of focus.
BRAKE LIGHT A round 4 submersible LED light was
used to signal driver braking intent. LED lights are
brighter and last longer. [10] Careful attention was given
to the mounting of the light. If the light is too high or too
mid center on the rear, it could potentially create visibility
problems for the drivers behind our vehicle. Hence, the
light was mounted at an optimum distance between the
two extremes without interfering with other equipment.
POWER - A securely mounted 9 volt battery powers the
brake lights. Standard 16 guage electrical wire in red
and black color is used to connect the components.

CONCLUSION
In this report, we discussed our primary goals in
designing a competition ATV for the 2011 SAE Baja
Intercollegiate Design series. Key points that can be
seen in the report are summarized as below:
1. The main objective was to construct a vehicle
optimized for performance at the off-road
environment in Illinois. It would comply with the SAE
rules and provide a safe, enjoyable experience for
the consumer.

2. Major systems and subsystems were explained in a

concise manner without information overload. These
systems were arranged in descending order of
priority. The passenger was given highest priority in
the design process. Power train, suspension and
tractive performance were very important areas of
the vehicle design which followed. Finally, the layout
of the inner systems and their packaging provided
an idea for the rollcage.
3. Although the SAE regulations afforded design
freedom in these areas, many design choices were
made from logical reasoning and with safety and
cost kept in mind. What we learnt was there is no
one single solution to engineering problems. In the
Baja design exercise, we noticed that some design
ideas were not really bad but simply needed more
time to be fully explored.
4. An important goal was to establish an organizational
structure in order to tackle design and manufacturing
related tasks involved in this project. Project
responsibility was shared among 5 major teams.
Each team recognized project interfaces,
communicated well and operated within time and
budget constraints. This results-oriented practice
showed the institution that we are a young, but
serious engineering organization. It also provides
sponsors a financial incentive to support our
engineering activities.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Certainly, a project of this scope would not have been
possible if it werent for the students involved in the MCC
Mini Baja club in 2010-2011. We wish to thank Justin
Woodhouse, John Chiu, George Chiu, Kyle Youngs, Teo
Ebratt, Sean Zimmer and several others who had
enthusiastically put on the thinking caps for our work.
We also wish to extend our gratitude to faculty advisors
Richard Bucholz and Professors Bertram Gamory, John
Wadach and David Leach for their unhindered support
and advice. Lastly but not the least, we also would like to
thank Monroe Community College and our sponsors for
providing us with the funding needed to carry out this
project.

5. Candian Center for Occupational Health & Safety,

Noise: Basic Information,
http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/phys_agents/noise
_basic.html
6. Articles Base, Motorcycle Noise,
http://www.articlesbase.com/sleeparticles/motorcycle-noise-465957.html
7. Olaav, Aaen, Chapter 2, CVT Tuning Handbook,
Aaen Performance, 2006
8. Aurora Bearings, ABCs of Rod Ends,
http://www.aurorabearing.com/Files/articles/ABCsof
SphericalRodEnds.pdf
9. Dupont, Delrin Design Guide,
http://www2.dupont.com/Plastics/en_US/assets/dow
nloads/design/DELDGe.pdf
10. Popular Mechanics, LED vs Incandescent,
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environm
ent/will-led-light-bulbs-best-cfls-and-incandescents

CONTACT
Ronald George (Team Captain)
Major: Electro-Optics
Email: rgeorge006@student.monroecc.edu
Phone: (516)300-3102
Carlo Inglese (Team Treasurer)
Major: Electrical Engineering
Email: cinglese001@student.monroecc.edu
Phone: (585)506-5703
Daniel Sze (Team Secretary)
Major: Environmental Engineering
Email: tsmith084@student.monroecc.edu
Phone: (585)610-3819
Richard Bucholz (Team Coach)
Phone: (585)503-7104

DEFINITIONS, ACRONYMS, ABBREVIATIONS

SIM: Side impact member of the rollcage.

REFERENCES
1. SAE International, 2011 Baja SAE Rules, Part A
Article 1
2. Damon, Albert, The Human Body in Equipment
Design, McGraw-Hill, Massachusetts, ISBN
0674414500, 1966
3. Autoblog, Cornell's SAE Baja buggy helps us get
even with would-be alma mater,
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/12/04/cornells-saebaja-buggy-helps-us-get-even-with-would-be-almamater/.
4. SAE International, 2011 Baja SAE Rules, Part A
Article 2

Kingpin Angle: The angle, measured in degrees,

between A and B. A is the imaginary line drawn through
upper wishbone outboard mounting point and the same
point of the lower wishbone. B is a vertical line.
Scrub Radius: The scrub radius is the distance in front
view between the king pin axis and the center of the
contact patch of the wheel, where both would
theoretically touch the road.
Remote Reservoir Shock: Shocks with an external
reservoir that increases fluid capacity. This increase in
capacity helps lower fluid temperature, thus offering the
ability to negotiate rough terrain without experiencing
shock fade (aeration) due to overheating.

APPENDIX A

Fig A1: Concept rendition of a baja car.

Fig A3: Packaging logic diagram of baja car.

Wheelbase (in)
Front Track (in)
Rear Track (in)
Front-Rear Weight Ratio
Weight of car (lbs)
Ride Height (in)
COG Height (in)
Overall Length (in)
Approach Angle (deg)
Castor (deg)
Front Tire Diameter (in)
Rear Tire Diameter (in)
Width at Widest Point (in)
Front Suspension Type
Rear Suspension Type
Steering Type
Drive Type
Transmission Type
Overall Drive Ratio

Fig A2: Radar plot of desirable attributes in a new MCC

vehicle.

60
55
53
40-60
400
12
<20
75
10
10
22
22
30
SLA Double Wishbone
Twin-Shock Swingarm
Rack and Pinion
Rear Wheel Drive
Continuously Variable
40:1

Fig A4: Rough specifications that were arrived at before

detailed design began.

APPENDIX B

Fig B1: CAD model of the upper and lower wishbones.

th

Fig B5: First iteration of the complete roll cage with a 95

percentile passenger. The design went through another round
of small modifications before it was deemed practical for
manufacture.
Fig B2: FEA analysis of shock mounting bracket design in a
10g landing scenario. The bracket was loaded at the mounting
hole. The resulting factor of safety was 6.

Figs B3 (above) and B4 (below): FEA analysis of the aluminum

upright in a 10g landing scenario. The factor of safety is 2.9.
Shown in B4 is the swing-arm.

Fig B6: Plan view comparison of the old chassis (right) with the
2011 chassis (left) to show longitudinal and lateral decrease in
dimensions.

APPENDIX C

Fuel Consumption (Gallons/Hour)

Gallons Per Hour Vs Engine RPM

At Specific Load Levels
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
1500

25%
50%
75%

Fig C4: Total theoretical load on the chain when transmitting

10 hp.

Full Load

2500

3500

4500

RPM

Fig C1: Fuel consumption curve of the 10 hp Briggs and

Stratton engine used to power the car.

Muffler Type
Lo-Tone Standard
Super Lo-Tone

3600 RPM
Full Load No Load
84.5
79.5
81.5
77.5

3000 RPM
Full Load No Load
82.5
76.5
79.5
74.5

Fig C5: A CAD mockup of major powertrain components.

Fig C2: Engine noise level in dB(A) measured at 4 m. away
from the unit.

Fig C3: Comparison of advertised power and torque numbers

with dyno tested values. Due to the variability, all design
calculations incorporated the more conservative of values to
gain realistic results.

Fig C6: 6061 Al has an ultimate strength of 310 MPa and a

yield strength of 276 MPa. The area under the stress strain
curve multiplied by material thickness yields the energy
absorption at rupture per unit width for the material. It was
assumed that the stress strain curve was linear to the yield
point and linear from the yield point to the ultimate strength,
where strain = elongation at break.

APPENDIX D

Wheel Camber vs Wheel

Travel
Camber (degrees)

0
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0
-2

-4
-6
Wheel Travel (in) [Negative for droop, positive
for jounce]

Fig D4: Organizational structure of the MCC Baja Team.

Design Spending In 2010-2011

2010

Fig D1: Front

ront wheel camber variation with suspension
movement.. The results come out of a purely rigid body linkage
analysis in CAD.

3%

Engine

0%
5%

Transmission

11%

6%

Drivetrain
Steering

10%

19%
Suspension

0%

7%

Frame

8%
24%

7%

Total material costs in 2011 was

$8300.00

Body
Brakes
Safety
Equipment
Electrical
Equipment
Fasteners
Miscelleneous

Fig D2: This optimization plot helps choose the primary

rollcage tubing that will pass SAE regulations. The window of
choice is bound by the two vertical lines and the horizontal line.

Fig D3:: This optimization plot helps choose the primary

rollcage tubing that will pass Rulebook regulations. The
window of choice is bound by the two vertical lines and the
horizontal line.

Fig D5: Financial resources available to each vehicle system.

Fig D6: Ganntt Chart for the 2011 Baja Vehicle Project.