Quote:
Originally Posted by Talonmotorsport
The back end will break away even with 90-100hp even in the dry if you try to push the laws of physics, tyres that are too wide for the weight of car and running cold will not help this either. A Caterham runs 185/50/13 wheels and tyres for a car that weights around 600kg where as most roadsters run 195/50/15's?
I understand people wanting to run 150hp plus to have pocket money fun for super car thrills but how often will you be able to use it on the road, great fun on a track where you can open it up on the straights but when your being held up by the 4 cars and a bus?
If you want to improve the chassis in a quest for taking the power or better handling upping the chassis tubing to 2mm will add weight this will warm the tyres up more which is not a bad thing but only add marginal stiffness. If you look at the intended construction of a basic chassis it is ment to have sheet material bonded to the sides to act as added diagonal stiffness between the chassis rails, if you use GRP sides you rob the chassis of this benefit. Another thing to consider about the use of sheet material is the floor, if this is made in two coffin shapes they are free to move independent of each other. A floor that is one piece with the a cut out for the gearbox will act as the only diagonal between the near side rear corner and the off side front footwell.
Some well thought out tubular bracing added to a 1.6mm walled chassis will be lighter and just as stiff as a 2mm basic chassis, being lighter adds to the power to weight ratio and being stiffer than standard will add to any improvements made to the suspension. The only way to make the chassis stronger beyond the basic design is to add a full rollcage to bridge the large space that is the cockpit area.
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i can get loads of the 25x25x2 mm box but not as easy for the 1.6 down here in sunny cornwall, i would have to order it all, would the extra 0.4mm really add much to the overall weight?