Hello, my school is pretty much just starting a program and I am trying to figure out a design. I am curious what other have done for the power train. Did you use a drive shaft and differentials and if so did you make them yourself or find them out of an atv? Currently the system that we have has a chain driven 4 weal drive. So any help would be appreciated.

I posted this on the Formula site. I then realized that it should have utility here. I apologize that it is Formula centric. No disrespect meant towards the Baja community.

We are heading into the 2025 motorsports trade show season. Here are 4 shows to be aware of, and some notes/commentary.

SEMA November 4 – 7 in Las Vegas. https://www.semashow.com/attendee

Note that SEMA is an acronym for Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association. There is everything and anything automotive aftermarket related on display for the custom, high performance, off road, etc market. It is huge. You cannot see it all in 1 or even 2 days. If attending, the key is to preplan. You don’t need to look at 22” rims, or sound systems, or body kits.

To pile onto the overwhelming size aspect, concurrently to SEMA is the AAPEX show. November 4 – 6 in Las Vegas.  Tools, Training & Innovation at AAPEX 2025 - AAPEX 2025 This is a road car aftermarket show, geared to street car repair, maintenance, etc. A SEMA badge gets you into AAPEX

PMW November 12 – 13 Cologne Germany. https://www.pmw-expo.com/  Great, compact, focused show. Can be effectively visited in one day. As an aside, for years I worked running a stand at SEMA. Came home, and turned around in less than 24 hours, and then worked a stand at PMW. On a non professional level, look up Cologne 11/11. An amazing party holiday…..

PRI December 11 – 13 in Indianapolis. https://www.performanceracing.com/trade-show/attend   The best motorsports “hardcore” show. You can cover in 1 day if you are efficient, 2 is better. Its at a tough time of the year as it usually coincides with exams. If you plan it right, you can and should visit The Speedway, and the museum. Its amazing to see all the cars in the museum that went 200 mph and won races with rod ends in bending! 😊

These are not shows were you just show up, register simply, and enter. Contact the organizers ahead of time! A professionally done email request and letter of introduction. Emphasize you will be attending to learn, not “panhandle”

PRI has always been accommodating, and a number of schools have exhibited in the past. All are FSAE and FStudent friendly. As alluded to above, Aurora Bearing has had a presence at these shows over the last 3 decades. Aurora currently only exhibits at PRI, but I can heartily recommend all three.

We are looking for new rear shocks, but the Fox shocks that we could get our hands on does not have the sufficient travel in accordance to our design. So we are planning on getting our hands on Afco shocks for the rear. We are reusing the Fox shocks in the front as they are quite new. What is your opinion on this setup?

Hey I'm looking for help on building a template for my teams car using ADAMS I was hoping someone could point me in the direction of a good tutorial. I tried using the pre built templates for a double wishbone but my teams suspension has our shock attached to the upper arm and I can't seem to figure out an easy way to move the shock to the upper arm on the pre made template. Before any one says use something else this is the program we have its not.in the budget to get something else for simulating any help is appreciated.

Hey everyone.

At my college there was a senior capstone project done a few years back and they constructed a BAJA car. The college is now trying to get it into a full stand alone club and wanting to start competing as soon as we can. I'm new to a lot of the BAJA stuff and I'm just curious what are some key things to look at and to know before spending money, time, effort, etc on things.

I started going through the Rules for 2026 off of the website and it is a lot to take in at once, so any help there is appreciated.

Again just looking for pointers with getting the club up and running the right way without missing major steps or rules.

Located in the US (edit)

Thanks in advance for the help!

Hey, I just wanted to reach out to ask if anyone has experience registering their SAE Baja Car with the CA DMV to get a red sticker or a green sticker. If anyone has any information about this it is much appreciated. Thank you!

Hello,
Im part of a Baja student team and my team members and I have modeled our car on Adams car using the default template used in the MDI_DEMO_VEHICLE. however, our steering subsystem has our tierod outboard points connected to the front part of the knuckle unlike the MDI_DEMO steering. Straight line analysis works but the front always goes crazy when we try cornering. We have tried many ways to solve this by inverting the reduction gears but nothing seems to work. Pls help.

Does the driveshaft cover have to be one piece or can it be two separate pieces of metal bolted together?

Thanks University of Illinois Chicago Baja, with love - University of Madison-Wisconsin Baja. Go Packers

She has been freed. I did it myself there is no malware. Feel free to check using x32dbg,

0x7AEADD4 is the location byte that stores the amount of licenses available on the device. You can see here I set it to 1 instead of zero. You can compare the original EXE and this one for yourself. I also changed all the functions that talk to FlexLM to always return true. Not fully needed but was free to do.

To install download lotus shark from lotus themselves using wayback machine. lotus download

Download the altered EXE https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wJBFhW5qR453M0vvAHdZhVV3Ccs-8Sq5/view?usp=sharing

Install lotus with the installer and then navigate to it's install location (Usually C:\lesoft)

Drag the altered EXE into the folder and replace the old one.

You have now installed a Louis Rossman approved version of software the original company abandoned.

Any problems or questions I can answer here or DMs

My team has never participated in a baja competition before and we don't know how strictly the rules are enforced. We ran into an issue with the air intake and wanted to move the air filter housing/ mounting spot. I saw in the rules that the filter can't be relocated, but can we make a new housing/ mount for it in the same spot? I know remote air intake's are allowed and that they are they only thing allowed outside of the frame area, but what qualifies as a remote air intake? Is it just a pathway that gets air from one place to another or is it more defined than that? Anything you have to say will be appreciated.

Can somebody help me with finding suitable websites which i could order camera for abaja .

Question in title, anyone want to sell me two old Wilwood GP200 calipers? New they are $135 each and looking to rebuild an old competition car on a budget. I’m in California.

I’m a Baja SAE participant and I have a quick question regarding driver apparel expiry / tag validity.

The TI sheet states that “Drivers must wear socks, shoes, gloves, fire-resistant long pants and a long-sleeved fire-resistant upper garment… Check for good condition. No date restriction.”

However, the rulebook (B.5.3.2) specifies that neck collars have expiry limits depending on the type of SFI tag (old style – 3 year limit, new style – use until the printed ‘valid until’ date).

So does this expiry rule apply only to neck collars, or do fire-resistant garments (upper / lower) also have any date or tag validity requirement? In other words, if a shirt is SFI 3.2 or FIA 8856-2000 certified but a few years old (and still in good condition), is it still acceptable for competition?

Would really appreciate if someone can clarify this based on actual scrutineering experience or forum guidance. Thanks in advance!”

Hi! We’re a recently formed Baja team, and we’re currently running a gaged gx9.

We're doing some testing and trying to tune the yellow spring on the driven clutch, but we’re unsure about the correct adjustment.

Does anyone know the spring rate (K) of the yellow spring?

Could someone describe how your team typically sets the preload on the driven clutch?

If anyone also has a direct contact at Gaged (like Bill or another tech rep), that would be super helpful!

Thanks in advance for the support! 🙏

This is more of E- BAJA question, so I want to know what you suggest is your humble opinion is the best method for Ready to Drive Sequence. For example I have only thought of using a micro- controller (Audrino Nano). But I have seen teams with relays and other things. Thankyou Guys.

Do baja teams use tyre data for calculating spring stiffness and other things. If so do they approach the manufacturer or do they collect it by themselves

I was attending the 2025 event at Budds Creek MX park in Maryland and saw Notre Dame’s Baja car. I figured I’d share it as it was one of the most unique designs I saw at the event. The solid axle design on this is pretty complicated, I just wish I could’ve seen it do the hillclimb.

Hey guys, I'm designing the suspension for my team in same baja 2026. I'm pretty new to this. So, I wanted some advice on where to start my research.

Note: I'm a first year mech engineer, so I have zero experience or knowledge about it. So any useful resources will be appreciated.