Drivetrain – Prototype

A group of 5 mechanical engineering seniors all involved with Formula SAE happened to join forces and earn credit for making race car parts. A good candidate system was the drivetrain of the race car – connecting the power plant to the wheels. In the past, we had experienced difficulties in setting and maintaining proper chain tension, so our focus was on a new bit of hardware that eased those pains.

The first step for class was to construct a prototype to demonstrate the big idea of what we were trying to accomplish. We did so by building a mock rear box of our steel space frame chassis, and installing our freshly designed chain tensioning rig in there.