Thread: Chassis Design
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Old 29th October 2011, 10:09 AM
hyperbodger hyperbodger is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Glasgow/London
Posts: 9
Default Chassis Design

This could well be a "light the blue touch paper and retire" thread, and apologies if its covered elsewhere (I'm new to the forum, just starting the build and am still finding out where things are located on the site)
I'm intending to use round rather than RHS tube - I know its more difficult but I've got a milling machine and linisher so fishmouthing the tube is just effort rather than cost.

Out of interest I've done some analysis of chassis designs and was wondering what the position on "chassis development" is. There's a really good argument for "if it ain't broke don't fix it" and that the current chassis design works well, is relatively straight forward to build and is cost-effective. My question is - Is anyone developing or thinking about designs which could increase stiffness, reduce weight etc? The question arose in my mind after I'd hired a Caterham for the weekend (just to prove that my 40-odd year unfulfilled interest in Lotus 7 type cars shouldn't just be left as a pipe-dream) and discovered that there are substantial differences in their latest offerings and earlier ones.

Just for the record - I'm using round tubing mainly because I think its slightly stiffer for a given weight, have spent a considerable amount of time learning to weld it and (main reason) have always wanted to and want to see if I can do it.

If anyone is interested in looking at chassis design, weight, stiffness, actual results compared with design calculations etc. I'd be interested in working with them.
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