Manufacturing Stage of Chassis at Andy Robinson race-cars

The chassis was manufactured by Andy Robinson Race Cars. It was designed by Level 3 Aerospace Students under the guidance of the MENG student Bruno Joe Monty. The 2008 entry chassis contained a high number of frame members. The 2009 entry aimed to minimise the amount of members with an acceptable loss of torsional stiffness.  The mass of the 2009 chassis is 26 kg, which is about 30% less than the 2008 entry, which weighed about 40kg. 

FEA was used extensively to optimise the design and layouts of frame members and to predict the torsional stiffness of the chassis. The torsional stiffness of the FEA design was then validated with a physical experiment on the new chassis.  The results were 44kNm/rad and 25.6 kNm/rad for the FEA model and actual chassis experiment respectively. Note that the physical test was performed without the engine or floor panels, which increase the torsional stiffness value.  To improve the torsional stiffness, components such as the steering rack were made an integral part of the frame. A structural carbon fibre floor is fastened and bonded to the chassis stiffening the structure further. Chassis was completed on the 12th of January and was released to the team for creating our highly anticipated STAG 09 race car.

Torsional stiffness testing of chassis

 

Completed painted chassis

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