Week 11

The results are in for the previous competition and the team did not do as they hoped. The car had some huge malfunctions and the team had to work arduously to try to fix the mistakes, but at the end due to a design flaw in the braking system the team wasn't able to pass the inspection and couldn't even race. They did however get 3rd in the business presentation of the vehicle, but it was a harsh failure in our design that ultimately put us out of the race. All of our hopes for the new car would have to wait till the next competition in June. The team plans to redesign the brake system so it wouldn't fail and hopefully we will have better luck at the next competition. It was a disappointing competition, but all they can do is make sure it doesn't happen at the next competition. Now the team is focusing on testing the new car more and more and to give another driver some experience behind the wheel because for the endurance part of the race there has to be a second driver to give the primary driver a break. This is the end of my senior research project experience and I wanted to thank the Baja team for letting me be a part of this club and teaching me so much I never could have learned without this experience. I wish them all the best in their future endevours.    

Week 10

It was the day before competition and we got a call saying we needed everyone to come in and finish the car. I rushed over to Polytechnic and when I arrived I saw a half build vehicle. The team was planning to head out the next day, but the team was in full rush to finish the car. This was the most people I had ever seen working on the car at once. When we arrived our first task was to sweep the whole shop and put away all the tools that people were not using. Then we had to use the vertical band saw to cut some pieces of scrap that they needed for the car. Part of the competition is for the judges to see the learning curve and the processes team's used to decide how to build a certain way, so part of this was to see how much force it took for us to break the welds on a 1 inch steel tube. We had to use the lathe to shape down a tube stock piece of steel to fit snugly inside the 1 in steel tubing so we could get the welding to break down. After completing this then we had to help the panels fit onto the new chassis because the measurements were taken from the old chassis and was slightly off on the new one. I also got to watch and learn how to weld a little as one of the team members Coleman was trying to weld the CVT cover together. The CVT served as a gearbox, but didn't have gears instead used a ramp system to move the car. The whole team was in a rush to get the car working for competition the next day and would defintely have to stay overnight to finish. This is what the car looked like when I left at 8 pm at night.

Week 9

Test, test, and more testing!!! With less then 2 weeks to go before competition the main focus was testing the car over and over. And by the end of the week to transfer all the parts over to the test car which would be ready by competition next week. This week we had to make sure that all the side panels lined up on the new car, so they could easily be installed later. This years car was faster then ever before and there was a lot of hope to do very well in the competition. There was so much work to be done some team members ended up sleeping on sleeping bags over night so they could work late and go to their classes in the morning. This took a lot of dedication to the club to balance their schoolwork with the club which could take up to 20 to 30 hours of their time per week. While at competition the students are responsible for making up all their class work and letting their teachers know that they will be gone. On the flip side the benefits of this club are enormous, polytechnic is known for being a hands on campus and this club is the perfect example. These students are responsible for building everything and they use what they learn in school and apply it in real life. This provides a hands on learning environment that allows students to learn at a much higher rate then just thinking about it theoretically. The way that the competition works is that there are 3 different competitions throughout the United States over the summer. There are different styles of testing such as the endurance race, the speed test, and also the business side of the car. The teams are scored and the team with the highest points is the winner. Last year the team placed within the top 10, but the car's performance degraded over the three competitions due to lack of durability and endurance. This year the team hopes the car is able to with stand the brutal track conditions and increase the car's performance over the races. The team takes of to Tenessee Valley next week to race in the first competition of the year!!! Wish them luck.  

Week 8

This week the new chassis finally came back from being painted meaning we could start testing the panels and see what changes need to be made. The new chassis was only 68 lbs and was the lightest chassis the team had ever built before. There were 2 weeks left before the competition and everyone was working to finish prepping. This week we had to make sure that all of the panels fit and that we had everything to go to competition. This involved making sure the trailer was cleaned out and everything we needed to go in the trailer was laid out. We attached the tow lines inside the trailer where everything could be strapped in nice and safely. This week the team took the car up into a dry riverbed and ended up flipping the car and broke the steering line that steers the car. The team had to make sure this wouldn't happen and had to make sure that they had plenty of spares in case it broke again. Also they blew out the rotor in the rear wheel because the screw was loose causing them to blow out the whole wheel. This is a reminder to always make sure everything is tightened. This week as all interns have to I had the privilege to sweep up the whole shop and make sure everything was put away properly. We are hoping to have everything ready to move to the new car by the end of this week as competition is just around the corner. This years car is noticeable faster and more agile than last years and hopefully that means we can preform even better than last years car.

Week 7

Time is of the essence and as competition is just around the corner the major emphasis was put on testing the car and finishing the new chassis. This week Nassim and I were assigned the task of removing the old foot box and making a new one for the competition chassis and car. The job of the foot box is to protect the driver's feet from being hit by an rocks that might get kicked up and to provide support for the drivers feet. To create the foot box we took the old one off and measured it on a piece of metal sheeting. Then we cut the metal using the shearing machine and used sheet cutters to cut out the inside of it. Then we had to use the metal bender to bend the notches into the foot box. It was a tedious and time consuming process and once we were finished we had to use the press so it would fit nicely in the role cage. After we had to drill holes where the rivets would be later placed in. This week the new chassis was supposed to be completed so it could be powder coated for the competition. The team took the car to the dessert for testing to see how the car would handle in the off road terrain. During testing the car performance was excellent and was considerably improved from last years, but there were still improvements that needed to be made. The team was falling behind their deadlines and had to work constantly throughout the nights just to keep up.

Week 6

With time winding down before our first competition everyone is working round the clock to make sure things are finished. This week the car was tested on the ASU dirt track and after just a few minutes the gearbox broke. We took the car back to the shop and after an evaluation there was serious damage to the gearbox and it would take 3 days to replace. While the car was out of order it was the perfect time to attach the pickup points onto the new chassis. These pickup points are the tabs where everything is attached to the main frame and by using this method it would save the team valuable time. The test chassis is the same design as the new one, but the new one will be lighter than the test chassis. The purpose of the test vehicle is to break the vehicle and notices what breaks and rebuild it stronger. While testing we found the rear tow links which help the rear tire retrain traction was taking a lot of impact and needed to be made stronger. This week I also got to use the plasma blaster which uses a really hot heat beam to melt metal which allows us to reuse broken pieces and weld it onto another piece.

This week the new chassis really came together and hopefully in the following week the new chassis will be completely done and ready to go. 

Week 5

As this is the 5th year that the ASU team will participate in the Mini Baja SAE race there are a lot of parts on the different cars that are reusable and make life easier. Our job this week was to strip the previous car and scrap it and re-use it for parts. This was very tedious work as we had to remove all the suspension, engine, brakes and brake lines, and everything else that could be taken out. We first removed the a- arm suspension which hold the tires on. These metal parts would be scraped and put into storage. Then we removed the brake lines which would be reused on the new car because they were already calibrated to roughly where they would need to be. Next we had to take off all the previous sheet metal and take apart all the rivets. Some of the sheet metal would be reused while other would be scraped because it was too damaged to be reused. The hardest part by far was taking out the engine. The engine was tricky because of all the little nuances that were attached to it. The engine would be put aside for another time. After the old vehicle was completely scraped we assessed what could be used and what couldn't. Then we attached the brake and brake lines to the new car. This week a lot of progress on the car was made and the car can be run. Although this car is almost finished this will not be the car that we will be racing. This car is the test car where all the flaws will hopefully be sorted out. Now the team must start to build a new frame for the actual car. Next week we hope to have the frame built for the new car,