Control of a Manual Transmission in an Electric Land Speed Vehicle

Abstract

The Buckeye Bullet is a land speed vehicle which currently holds the record for the fastest electric vehicle. In order to improve upon the success of the Buckeye Bullet, the Buckeye Bullet 2 is being designed to reduce losses and improve upon safety of its predecessor. To this end, the development of a control method which would take into account many vehicle parameters in order to automatically control the Buckeye Bullet 2's sequential transmission is being investigated and developed. In addition, due to the nature of land speed vehicles and the inherent risk involved, it is very important that the driver be as focused as possible, and that the vehicle be very reliable. This research project investigates through modeling the effect that a control system would have on the existing Buckeye Bullet, and develops such a control system to be implemented onto the Buckeye Bullet 2.