At Monday's meeting we had a good discussion on what we should use for  
next year's drivetrain.  We considered belts but couldn't come up with  
a good solution so many of you were in favor of a chain and sprocket  
design.  I did some more research on the belts and found that it is  
possible to do a complete belt drive.  If you have time read through  
these links, there is a lot of good information there.  After reading  
all of this I think it is the best way to go.

http://www.gates.com/brochure.cfm?brochure=7468&location_id=11347
This is an overview of the type of belt we would use.  It says that  
these belts match the capacity of a chain of the same width.  One of  
our issues on Monday was that a belt would be too wide, but apparently  
not.

http://www.gates.com/brochure.cfm?brochure=5262&location_id=6196
This is a good article comparing belts to chain.

http://www.carbondrivesystems.com/overview.php?lang=us
These belts are being used on bicycles instead of chains.

In one of the links above it says that these belts are ideal for  
applications that experience shock loading, which is what caused our  
current gearbox to fail.  Also keep in mind that the team who told us  
about this company said that they give belts to Baja teams for free.   
So read this stuff over and let me know if you have any comments or  
ideas.

Rob

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Happy Racing

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UVM SAE Mini Baja 2009-2010
nothin' mini about it