What Is Buggy?

GAG_3736.jpeg

Buggy is a 100 year old gravity racing competition at Carnegie Mellon. Students build three-wheeled carbon fiber monocoque racers that are pushed around a road course. Each vehicle is piloted by the smallest driver available as it is reaches top speeds of around 40mph on the downhill portion of the course and is propelled back up the hills relay style.

Buggies typically weigh a little less than 20lbs and are built with carbon fiber and aramid core materials. They run on specially designed polyurethane wheels that give enough grip and stability to the buggy during the tight turns and enough rebound to pick up some serious speed.

 

Here are the buggies that I designed and built while leading the Fringe racing team from 2015-2018:

 

 

2018

 

Let’s Design For The User…

Smaller wheels and an extremely stiff monocoque means that this buggy absolutely flies off of the pusher’s hands. Cushioned interiors and more robust safety attachments means that this buggy is safer and more comfortable than its predecessors. Built-in hand holds, retractable harness attachment points, and more accessible hardware make this buggy easer to handle and maintain.

The Buggy Should Fit Together Like It Came From IKEA

This buggy was a complete overhaul in the way we design and think about our buggy construction process. We drew inspiration from the ease of assembly and the accuracy of DIY assembly kits. The end result is a design where accuracy is easy to achieve and complexity is at an absolute minimum.

 
40910588104_8e66152d74_b.jpg
 

Watch It Fly

The small wheels and light construction really enabled me to get a huge jump off of the line and break away early.

 

So What Goes Into Making A Buggy?

Fringe likes to iterate fast. We push through the design and fabrication process in order to get the buggy on the course as soon as possible. We leverage our team knowledge of composites manufacturing to produce this finished buggy with minimal resources and minimal time. The results speak for themselves.

DSC02153.jpg

 

2017

 

As Light As A Feather…

The build process of this buggy focused on weight reduction at every step. Reduced epoxy weight, hollow frames, and a hybrid pan make this the lightest buggy Fringe has built in recent memory.

Creating Accuracy

The design was re-engineered to allow for tight control of steering geometry without a need for complex jigs and molds. This is all dependent on upstream planning. Inlaying hard points and frames into the pan of the buggy allows for higher accuracy later on in the build.

 
Screen Shot 2017-09-09 at 5.18.08 PM.png
 

A Freak In The Freeroll

The accurate steering is complemented by the extremely rigid frame and high degree of driver control. Blueshift absolutely screams downhill.

 

Want To Know Where The Speed Comes From?

We took very specific steps on this buggy to optimize speed in the freeroll. Every step in the build process affects the speed and overall quality of the finished vehicle.

18358995_1417444194979534_4413360986953288990_o.jpg

 

2016

 

Refine The Process…

Boson is an exercise in perfectionism. We took the historic Fringe buggy design and pushed it to its limits. This allowed us to determine the shortcomings of the build process as well as its strengths.

We Need A Workhorse

At the time Boson was built, Fringe only had one fast buggy. We desperately needed a fast, reliable, and near bulletproof buggy. We succeeded on all accounts.

 
40910589194_9625c7b6e4_b.jpg
 

We Named The Wrong Buggy Bumper

Two collisions in one race and the buggy just keeps on booking.

 

Built To Last

This was a learning year for us. Trying to get the most out of this buggy design and build process showed us that there is a better way of doing things. Despite extreme attention to detail, we were just not able to get the accuracy we were looking for. The craftsmanship of this buggy means that it will be looping around Schenley park for quite a while longer.

18358995_1417444194979534_4413360986953288990_o.jpg