We’ve had the privilege of working with Northwestern Baja Racing team for the second year in a row. They may not be racing this year but they gained some valuable experience machining our donated titanium before having to put their build on hold. JD Slattery is the new Project Manager for the team and he explains why they chose titanium again and some minor difficulties they ran into.

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SAE competitions look a little different this year with the COVID19 pandemic. All in-person competitions were cancelled and some were moved to an online platform. With state restrictions and lock-downs, Universities across the country had to cancel classes and students were prevented from continuing work on their vehicles. However, before the lock-downs, some teams were able to start the machining and building process. Perry Cheney from Chico SAE Baja’s team, Wildcat Racing, explains the process of machining the titanium and how they were able to get valuable practice before working on and completing their own parts. [Read more…]

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This is the first year we’ve been able to work with SJSU’s Baja SAE Team. We provided them with 6AL-6V-2SN 3.6500″ Dia and 4.0560″ Dia. It’s exciting to see everything they’ve done with it and how it has benefited the vehicle and the team this year. Lauren Cook, a Mechanical Engineering Major, tells us a little about the team and how the used the titanium to their advantage.

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For several years now, we’ve been happy to support the SAE Formula Racing team over at Northwestern University. Molly Mudget, one of the main team members working with the titanium, lets us know how their year went and how they did in competition.

Every year since 2008, Northwestern Formula Racing (NFR) has participated at an international level in an inter-collegiate SAE competition with an open-wheeled, motorcycle-engine powered road racing car. Throughout the school year we raise funds for, design, build, test, and eventually race the formula style car. The team has been using titanium for at least 6 years, and this year Performance Titanium Group provided NFR with a sponsorship.

We use titanium to construct the lever arms of the Anti-Roll Bar (ARB), a component of the suspension system that serves as system of springs to reduce body roll of the vehicle while cornering. Titanium is an optimal material for this because the ARB needs to meet a specific target stiffness and titanium has both a desirable strength-to-weight ratio and spring constant while meeting this stiffness requirement. The use of titanium allows us to adjust the ARB after assembly on the car in order to change the cornering abilities depending on the driver’s needs.

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PTG had the opportunity to donate 662 titanium round bar to the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Baja SAE Team for the 2018/2019 racing season. Unfortunately, they were unable to find a sponsor that could machine the titanium into parts for them, but they have big plans for next year’s car! We interviewed Josh, the team’s Chief Engineer, to find out more.

 

PTG: Tell us a little about your team and the role you play. How has being a part of UIUC Baja benefited you? What will you take away from this experience and be able to apply to future professional opportunities?

Josh: I’m currently the Chief Engineer of the Baja SAE team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. My role involves setting project goals and validating engineering decisions through software like Ansys FEA. The club has taught me real applicable engineering skills that will be useful in the engineering industry post graduation. These skills include project management and machining of components, both of which aren’t specifically taught in the engineering curriculum and are critical to working in the engineering world. [Read more…]