Originally posted by PMK
Carbon fibre is somewhat of a commodity. At the present time aerospace is using a large portion of raw carbon for the aerospace weaves and filament wound components. Aerospace comes first with commercial second. Since our cars are fast but not quite measured in mach we fall into commercial carbon fibre. It may not affect RC but it is causing problems for others that utilize carbon for products produced.
Now something worthy. Knowing that manufacturers produce and sometimes offer as option different thickness chassis plates, if a softer plate is desirable for outdoor, and stiff is good for indoor, what allows the several cars that supposedly have a stiff chassis to work well outdoor. The BMI comes to mind first. They feel it forces the suspension to work rather than allow the chassis to be a suspension component. Any thoughts?
And Crashby are you allowed to discuss what the channels were used for? And I agree that a proper orientation could prove to be as stiff while lighter. If I do another, I will aim for about 2/3's the weight of an oem plate and slightly more rigid. Time will tell.
PK
Well... Common theory is that the stiffer the chassis is, the better the suspension will work and or can be tuned. While this theory is true for 1:1 racing and even down to 1:8, any scales lower than that the theory starts to degrade somewhat. My thinking is, and I must say that it is my own opinion, that because 1/12th scale cars are so light and the suspension movement is so minute that the flexibility of the chassis becomes a tuning aid. As far as some of the cars with thick chassis working well on asphalt, I think you have to look at the recent World Championships in Florida or the ROAR Nationals in Portland. All of the top three cars at both events, I think, had thin chassis. At the recent indoor ROAR Carpet Nationals the top three cars had thick chassis.
The carbon channels I had made were of two different sizes that would tightly fit inside of each other to form a rectangular tube. I then cut these up to make a very rigid monocoque chassis for a 1/12th car I designed and was racing back in 1985-86. The design used the Associated independent front suspension with the mono shock. I felt to make the suspension work, the chassis had to be rigid. The cars were very cool looking but... they had too much rear grip and proved to be difficult to get enough steering. So after two years of constant design changes, breathing carbon dust, I gave up and went to a kit and started to have some fun.