Design of an SAE Baja Racing Off-Road Vehicle Powertrain

What is SAE Mini-Baja?  

SAE Baja is a collegiate program where each team builds an off-road race vehicle to a strict set of rules, and competes across the nation with other teams. SAE Baja originated in 1976 at the University of South Carolina, where the first competition took place. Baja Racing began as a program to teach young engineering students about design, metalworking, fabrication, problem solving, critical thinking, and automotive technologies. Today, hundreds of universities from around the world compete in national and international competitions to test their cars and represent their schools.


SAE Baja competitions consists of both Static and Dynamic events. The static events are typically a cost report, design report, design presentations, and a sales presentation. The dynamic portion can consist of traction events such as a hill climb, tractor pull or rock crawl, a suspension (or traction) and maneuverability course, acceleration, and the four hour endurance race. Each of the dynamic events tests both the entire car, as well as one subsystem rigorously. For example, acceleration and hill climb test the drivetrain, while maneuverability and suspension test how the suspension and steering were designed. A well-designed Baja car must be able to perform well in all of the events. Most important of all things, the Baja car must not break. Component failure is the major cause of the lack of success that the team has seen over the past decade. There always must be a well-educated decision that balances strength and weight of every component on the car.

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