SAE Baja - Brakes

The 2016 SAE Baja Project consists of multiple design teams, each analyzing and designing various subsections of the Baja vehicle. The purpose of each team is to analyze, design, and manufacture an entire off-road vehicle according to the rules established by SAE. The SAE Baja Brake team designed a spreadsheet to account for the many variables encountered during the design and fabrication of the vehicle. An important consideration is the increase braking force required at the front wheels of the vehicle, due to the vehicle's center of gravity causing a load transfer to the front wheels during braking. After taking into account the braking forces necessary to stop the Baja, and adhering to SAE competition rules, components were selected that would function correctly. A large difficulty faced in vehicle design is the complicated interfacing issues caused by multiple teams making multiple design changes simultaneously. The SAE Baja vehicle creation process has shown that engineering is often as much about project management and creating realistic timelines as it is about the research and design involved.