Momentum - September 2021 - 14

STUDENT GENERATION
LEFT: Michigan Baja Racing
ABOVE: " The team spent a large portion of the design cycle of this vehicle
working on the integration of other large subsystems, such as the
suspension, with the 4WD system, " said Hector Clarke, Michigan Baja
Racing captain.
Michigan-Ann Arbor. " It started with the
functional goals that we set for the system
during the design faze; The system needed to
be lightweight, low profile, and needed to
provide driving power to the front wheels.
These goals were achieved by our brilliant
engineers after no less than a degree's worth
of effort and commitment, and the 4WD
system we brought to competition as a result
proved to be not the best 4WD system at the
competition by any means, but the one that
worked with our vehicle. "
Clarkson University's Golden Knights Racing
team placed third overall, fueled in part by its
third-place showing in the Hill Climb Event.
Only three other teams performed better in the
dynamic events.
" During the development of our four-wheel
drive system we decided that a key to success
was going to be developing a way to disconnect
the front and rear driveline for times when fourwheel
drive was not needed, " said Phillip
Leverett, 2020-2021 Golden Knights Racing
team captain. " Although this design took many
months to complete and test, it proved
successful by allowing the car to handle very
similar to previous years two-wheel drive
vehicles. While in four-wheel drive the car
turned noticeably harder but was able to crawl
over many obstacles. The strength of the fourwheel
drive system showed in our success in the
Hill Climb and Suspension & Traction events. "
The team from Iowa State University finished
first in the Endurance Event.
" On the engineering side of the vehicle, the
A great performance in the Hill Climb Event was instrumental in Golden Knights Racing
capturing third place overall in the larger Baja Kentucky Validation Event.
14 September 2021
suspension was a large focus in the past year.
Instead of a complete redesign, we focused on
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Michigan Baja Racing
Momentum - September 2021

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