Vehicle #76
DelTech Baja SAE Design Report
Aseem Raghav, Lavya Upadhyay, Anant Jindal, Shaurya Malhotra, Nishant Bhardwaj, Aman
Dev Punia, Abhishek Kumar, Harsh Pandey, Himanshu Arora, Harshit Malhotra, Vipul Sharma,
Gaurav Uppal, Gaurav Kapoor, Ashish Chauhan, Abhishek Gupta, Akshay Sharma, Siddharth
Bhat, Harsh Kashyap, Ayush Bhan, Shreyas Acharya, Avinash, Tarun Jain, Sahil Jain, Rajat
Kumar, Harshit Tanwar, Mahima Khanna, Pranav Kumar
ABSTRACT
Baja SAE is a collegiate design competition sponsored
by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Each teams
goal is to design, build, and compete with a prototype of
a single seat off-road vehicle intended for production and
eventual sale to the nonprofessional weekend racer.
Team members must ensure that the vehicle satisfies
the limits of set rules, while also to generating financial
support for the project, and managing their educational
responsibilities. This vehicle must be capable of
negotiating the most extreme terrain with confidence and
ease. DelTech Baja worked towards these objectives by
dividing the vehicle into its major component
subsystems.
INTRODUCTION
The primary objective during design considerations of
Vehicle #76 was to complement the robustness of the
previous vehicle with an improved ride height, powertrain
efficiency and reduced weight. The cycle began with a
comprehensive review and analysis of the previous
design and performance, outlining the faults and
redundancies, and debating new ideas. The team
decided to focus on the following key areas to avoid
failure and improve the overall functioning of the vehicle:
Failure of steering arm and front spindle
Elimination of redundant members of roll cage
Accessibility of components for servicing and
maintenance
Changing the position of Engine
Weight reduction of the chassis
Improving rear suspension and roll cage design
by redesigning shocks to cater to the new
venue.
The manufacturing completion date is also a very
important characteristic of the car. Missed design and
manufacturing deadlines have plagued the team for
Team Members, DelTech Baja
Delhi Technological University, India
Professor Vikas Rastogi
Faculty Advisor
many years and has led to habitual mediocrity. Not only
do late finishes take away from valuable testing time, but
rushed work with competition looming leads to careless
manufacturing mistakes. These mistakes can lead to
component failure during competition. Learning from
past mistakes, a detailed timeline was prepared and
followed till the end.
ROLLCAGE
The main objective of the roll cage was to encapsulate
all the components rigidly, safely and ergonomically. The
main goals for the chassis design included -
Safety of driver
Decrease weight and overall length
Improve packaging of subsystems
Impact resistance and torsional rigidity
Driver ergonomics
MATERIAL OF ROLL CAGE - The most important
aspect in roll cage design was to decide the material and
tube size. After intense market surveys of various tubes
which meet the specifications as per the rulebook, AISI
4130 was chosen because of its superior properties over
AISI 1018. The size used for primary members is
1.15x0.065 whereas the secondary members used are
1x0.039.The frame is TIG welded using ER80S-D2
filler and argon shielding gas.
FEA ANALYSIS OF ROLL CAGE - After completing the
design of the roll cage on SOLIDWORKS, Finite Element
Analysis was performed on the roll cage to make sure
the expected loadings do not exceed the material
specifications.
DRIVER ERGONOMICS - The major factors considered
in designing an ergonomic roll cage included-
 Seat location and inclination No axial thrust on the shaft, thus eliminating the
Design of Pedal box need for thrust bearings and reinforcements in
Location and design of steering wheel housing
Ease of entry and egress Slightly higher efficiency
Clear line of sight for driver visibility Lesser chance of misalignment, allowing for
Increasing the driving comfort easy assembly of gearbox
Addition of a display panel to relay information Spacers and Circlips(retaining rings) are to be used to
about the car to the driver prevent axial motion of gears along with keys. Needle
Roller bearings were chosen owing to their small size
and high dynamic and static load carrying capacity at
POWERTRAIN high RPMs. The shafts were designed as short as
possible to maximize rigidity, minimize buckling and
The primary aim of the powertrain is to transmit the lowering the weight. Integrated gears were used on all
required power to the driven wheels. In accordance with shafts to eliminate failures associated with keys and
the design constraints, a CVT was decided upon ensure locational accuracy of the gears. Heavy duty
because of its inherent ability of being able to provide retainer rings are used to hold bearings in place. Case
infinite gear ratios which eliminated the use of multi hardening steel (AISI 8620) was selected for both gears
speed gearboxes which are heavier and costlier. and shafts. The components were nitride and case
However, a CVT cannot provide the required torque hardened to RHC 60 up to 0.3mm depth. Al 6061-T6
which is needed to propel the vehicle. Thus, a single was chosen for the casing of the gearbox. The gears
speed gearbox is coupled to provide the final reduction. and shafts after being analysed using AGMA standards
were subjected to FEA analysis for contact stresses,
Spec Value fatigue and damage over the life cycle (see Fig 2). The
lubricant used in the gearbox is SAE 140 synthetic
Max Engine RPM 3800 grade.
Engine Torque at max RPM (N-m) 16.5
Max Engine Torque (N-m) 18.66 Specifications Value
Max Engine Power (kW) 7.46 Module (mm) 2.5
CVT Low Gear 0.43 Stage 1 Reduction 60:19 (3.157:1)
CVT High Gear 3
Driveline efficiency 0.80 Stage 2 Reduction 61:19 (3.210:1)
Theoretical Top speed (m/s) 16.12 Pressure Angle (deg) 20
Final drive reduction 10.138 Face width (mm) 25
Drag Coefficient 1.08
Coefficient of rolling resistance 0.068
Tractive force during max. acceleration 1525.78 BRAKING SYSTEM
(N)
An effective and simple braking system is very important
Tractive Force at Top speed (N) 351.6 for any BAJA vehicle. The system has been designed
Rolling Radius (m) 0.29 keeping in mind maximum speed of 55 km/hour and
Torque at max. acceleration (N-m) 442.48 weight being 650lbs. Because of dynamic weight
transfer to the front, outboard discs in the front and a
Torque at max. speed (N-m) 101.96 single inboard disc in the rear mounted on the drive shaft
Gradeability 62.4% have been used, thus saving both on cost and extra
weight of caliper and disc.

Brake Calculations
GEARBOX - The gearbox being the most crucial
element in our powertrain and also a highlight of our
design was designed as per latest AGMA standards for Weight of Vehicle (N) 2550.6
gear design and ASME codes for shaft design. The
gearbox is a 2 stage reduction one (see Fig. 1). The
team was faced with a dilemma of choosing between Weight on front axle (%) 40
helical and spur gears but decided upon spur gears
since noise and NVH took a lower precedence in the Maximum speed of vehicle (m/s) 16.12
design priorities. Moreover spur gears offer the following
advantages which are much needed in our design for a 2
Deceleration Required (m/s ) 7.3575
rugged transmission system:

Easier machining

Rolling Radius of tire (m) 0.2921
Horizontal distance from front axle to C of G 0.960
(m)
Wheelbase (m) 1.6
Vertical Height of Vehicles C of G (m) 0.580
Coefficient of friction between tire and ground 0.75
Required Brake Torque-Front (Nm) 203.5
Obtainable Brake Torque-Front (Nm) 602.34
Required Brake Torque-Rear (Nm) 104.62
Obtainable Brake Torque-Rear (Nm) 312.74
MASTER CYLINDERS - The calipers are fed by dual
master cylinders, separate for front and rear of 0.5 bore
with 4 oz. reservoirs. To make up for more space inside
the vehicle, the master cylinders were flipped around
and mounted towards the inside of the vehicle; facing
the driver.
BRAKE PEDAL Al 6061-T6 has been used for the
manufacturing of the brake pedal for weight reduction
without compromising on strength needed during
threshold braking. The pedal setup features a 6.5:1
pedal ratio, offering plenty of mechanical advantage
leverage to be ergonomic for the driver and help in
locking all four wheels. Knowing the maximum forces
finite element analysis (FEA) was performed in
SOLIDWORKS Simulation.
CALIPERS - The team uses two different calipers for the
left and right rotors to employ proper braking force and
improve packaging. The front left rotor uses a dual
piston fixed caliper from BYBRE whereas the front right
rotor uses a dual piston fixed caliper from SUZUKI
Slingshot. The rear rotor uses a single piston fixed
caliper from BYBRE.The front rotors have a diameter of
150 mm whereas the rear inboard rotor has a larger
diameter of 180 mm to provide proper brake biasing.
Thermal analysis for the rotors was done on Solidworks
Simulation to check for any deformation or brake fade.
SUSPENSION
A suspension system can make or, quite literally, break
a vehicle. For a Baja vehicle, a good suspension system
is of paramount significance. The suspension has to
work in tandem with the steering system to provide a
comfortable and controllable ride. After analyzing the
performance of the previous vehicle, the primary
objectives during the design of Vehicle #76 were:
Minimizing bump steer
Hindering roll centre migration
Reducing steering effort
Easing serviceability and alteration of static
suspension properties
Cost effectiveness
GEOMETRY A double wishbone geometry was
chosen as the front suspension. The geometry was
retained from previous years vehicle because of the
teams familiarity with the design and its ubiquity in Baja
SAE.
The rear geometry was changed from double wishbone
to an H-arm with a single control link. Altering static
suspension properties in a double wishbone is tiresome
and thus, to ease maintenance, the team decided to
switch. The H-arm performs the functions of all four links
by reacting all brake loads as a torsional output. The
single upper link serves the purpose of changing the
camber angle and determination of front view instant
center.The plotting of hard points and the analysis of the
geometries for camber gain in travel, bump steer, and
roll was done in the Shark package of Lotus Suspension
Analysis. (See Fig 3)
CONTROL ARMS - The front control arms are
constructed from AISI 1020 tubings that have been TIG
welded. The 19mm 1020 was chosen to trim down the
weight. The lower arms are mounted to the body using
M10 Grade 8.8 bolts via bushings turned from wear
resistant Nylon 6,6. The upper arms are mounted to the
body using M8 bolts via rod ends. AISI 1020 cups are
welded to the end of arms to tightly fit the ball joints
inserted into the uprights. The rear control arms are AISI
4130 chromoly steel which have been TIG welded. The
control link is made out of AISI 1020 steel.
UPRIGHTS AND HUBS - The front uprights are CNC
milled from AISI 4340 steel billets and contain a press-
fitted spindle machined from AISI 4340 steel. The
increase in one hundred grams of weight was justified as
the previous upright saw the failure of the steering arm
and the spindle. Al 6061-T6 was used to machine the
four-lobed hubs which are supported on the spindle by
two ball bearings. The rear upright is CNC machined
from a single Al 6061-T6 billet. The hub consists of two
parts, a four-lobed Al 6061-T6 plate and an AISI 4340 a
steel flange which sets into the upright with the means of
two ball bearings.
SHOCKS - The front suspension uses shock absorbers
from the previous vehicle, Fox Float 2.0. The ease of
adjustability and the adequate length made the choice a
no-brainer. For the rear shock absorbers, however, the
team decided to switch to custom Coilovers. The
insufficient 6 travel was problematic because of the
angularity of the shocks, the greatly decreased motion to the rack to connect to tie rod ends. An AISI 1020 rod
ratio and the tricky design to accommodate the shocks. functions as a tie rod and transmits the forces from the
With the switch, the rear could be revamped to be rack to the wheel using M12 and M10 rod ends
leaner, sturdier and with no bends. Although, the respectively.
increase in weight was a concern, overall improvement
in performance and greatly reduced price negated the CONCLUSION
increase in weight.
DelTech Baja has designed and analyzed a vehicle for
After comprehensive research about Coilovers, a dual the 2017 Baja SAE Competition. With a focus on safety,
rate progressive spring system (see Fig 4) was selected manufacturability, durability and performance, this
for its adjustability and similar force vs displacement vehicle has been engineered and validated to overcome
characteristics when compared to air shocks. Exhaustive the hardest of terrains.
debates about purchase or custom designs concluded
with the team deciding to construct custom dual rate REFERENCES
apparatus on our own. The entire assembly was
machined out of AISI 1020 to not compromise on 2017 Baja SAE Series Rules
strength (see Fig. 5, 6). The dampers are OEM. The Race Car Vehicle Dynamics, William F. Milliken
selection of appropriate spring rates was done after
Jr.
referring to multiple vehicle dynamics and machine
Tune to Win, Carroll Smith
design books. To maintain an appreciable factor of
Suspension Analysis and Computational
safety, the custom manufactures springs were made out
of AISI 1095 carbon spring steel with a wire diameter of Geometry, John C. Dixon
11mm. Gillespie, T. (1992) Fundamentals of vehicle

STEERING

The absence of a differential in the vehicle leaves an

exceptionally important task on the steering subsystem.
While designing the steering system, the primary
concerns were:

To select a suitable type of steering and

decrease turning radius
Minimization of weight without compromising
integrity
Eradication of play between stimulus and
response
ACKERMAN STEERING - The team decided to settle on
Ackerman Steering because, even after considering
slipping and non-ideal properties, the speeds in a mini
Baja car aren't too great to digress from Ackerman
steering. The dissimilar turning angles provide an
adequate alternative for a vehicle with a differential.
Vehicle #76 runs a 83.2% Ackerman, with a turning
radius of 2m which is a huge reduction from the previous
turning radius of 2.72m.To decrease fatigue and better
the vehicle response, the steering ratio is 2.63 with
220.2 lock-to-lock rotation.

COMPONENTS - The design team decided to go for a

light, custom steering wheel. This change was made to
keep the steering wheel light and increase motility. The
wheel is mounted on a bearing which connects to the
shaft. Instead of using keyways to transmit from the
shaft to the pinion, Vehicle #76 has splines. Splines are
more efficient at power transmission than keyways and
reduce the chances of play development to null.The
housing is vertically milled from an Al 6061-T6 billet. The
design is sleeker and reduces the weight considerably
by. The rack and pinion are made from hardened AISI
8082. The rack has a travel of 60 mm. The pinion has 13
teeth and a module of 2 mm. Mild steel adaptors is fixed
VEHICLE DRAWINGS
Figure 1: Custom Made Gearbox

Figure 4: Dual Rate Progressive Springs Apparatus

Figure 2: Gear Static Mesh Analysis, (61/19) Gear
Pair

Figure 5: Deformation In Lower Spring Plate

Figure 3: Full Suspension Layout As Shown In Lotus

Shark

Figure 6: Factor Of Safety In The Lower Shock

Mount