It’s not intended to be the best in terms of weight to stiffness but rather something that could be built in workshop with basic metalworking tools and no large jigs. The construction relies on two things – sheets of larger than the old “8*4” and a metal folder capable of folding up to 3metres. I have established that both are available in the UK at least. I have also made up a little model, its not exactly to scale due to fastener sizes etc.
Basically the chassis is two opposing “A” frames sandwiching a central alloy plate or honeycomb bulkhead to which all the high load bits are mounted – front of engine, roll hoop, seat belt mounts, battery and oil tank etc. It is stabilised by the seat back which has an access hole for servicing front belts, pumps etc.
The side member are simple top hat sections which self- jig the chassis , as they are very stiff you can rivet them to the floors without jigs. Because the side beams have simple flanges all riveting can be with hard rivets bucked from underneath.
The whole chassis is made from only 14 parts as shown here.
The design isn’t very complex but it does give good side impact and front impact protection.
One downside is the tapering limits foot room but this shouldn’t be problem in racer as there usually isn’t a requirement – in a road car the passenger would have to pull their legs up bit.
Hopefully the pics of my little model give an idea of the layout – any comments are very welcome
