The rules are pretty extensive. Basically when someone gets a bit too crafty for them a new rule gets made.
Main Competition Rules and Regs: [urlhttp://www.sae.org/students/mbrules.pdf
Links to other important documents:
http://students.sae.org/competitions/bajasae/rules/
I’ve been pretty slammed with work in the last couple days, so no solidworks porn yet.
This video isn’t us, and was not made by us (we show up in it though around 1:15 where we were in the wrong gear to go over the obstacle), but it shows the sort of terrain these cars are designed to handle. Laval (the team that made the video) has a stupidly fast and light car. They make a pretty boss video as well on their way to winning the competition.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVVirUO_uT4[/ame]
My analysis of why we couldn’t clear that log:
-car was not in the proper gear
-engine was lugging and centrifugal clutch was not engaging (revs too low)
-on the drops the car either popped out of gear and lost speed, or the transmission shock-shifted itself on landing (shift linkage had enough mass to it for that to happen, it was quickly thrown together because the cable setup broke and we could not source a replacement cable in time)
-When the driver got the car back into gear, it wasn’t in first, and he realized he had no chance of driving over the log and just hit the brakes.
-Low ground clearance without enough of a “stinger” to launch the front of the car over things
Valuable things learned from the “toy” car (below):
-functional cable shifter
-better bumper shape for riding up over logs and things
-a 36hp motorcycle engine makes a baja car that was designed for 10hp go frighteningly fast
-1970’s Honda CB carburetors are annoying