Race Car Clutch
Challenge
The race car driver need a clutch that gave good tangible feedback and also moved with the steering wheel so the driver always knew where to reach for it at any instant.
INDUSTRY
Automotive
SERVICES USED
Mechanical Design, 3D Printing, Prototyping, Design for Manufacturing, Concept Renders, and Weight Optimization
Solution
This particular race car was equipped with left foot braking and right foot gas for faster transitions. Furthermore, the toebox was as narrow as possible for aerodynamics. This left no room for a left foot clutch pedal like a typical car.
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In previous years the team solved this issue by hooking up an electronic system to the drivetrain clutch and putting an electronic button on the drivers steering wheel. Unfortunately, this cost them seconds in the race as the drive had no feel for the friction zone of the clutch and would often mis-shift or stall out due to the lack of tactile feedback form the electronic button.
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Thinking outside of the box: Maco Design was approached by the team and asked if they could solve this problem. The team knew they wanted to get rid of the electronic clutch but didn’t like the idea of having a static clutch lever located in the cockpit that would require the driver to take one hand off the steering wheel to operate. They said in a loss of traction situation the driver being able to engage or disengage the clutch in milliseconds would be the difference between sliding the rear end around a hairpin or a full on spinout that would ensure they don’t win the race.
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Our solution was to design a mechanical clutch that mounted on the steering column with a gyro mechanism. This allowed the lever to rotate as the driver turned the wheel so it was always right where they expected it. The clutch was designed and prototyped using 3D printing then manufactured from aerospace grade aluminum, carbon fiber, and thin wall bearings. All parts were anodized or painted to match the race team’s livery.