Chassis explained

As you design a racing car, it is important that you know the requirements of your
engineering work. The nature of the race car's normal operation and fatigue life depend
on the structure and material composition of the car. Therefore, topics such as
metallurgy and structural design are important for the designer to grasp. The whole
concept of engineering considerations is that you keep in mind four aspects, where they
are appropriate:
Any good chassis must do several things:

Be structurally sound in every way over the expected life of the car and beyond.
This means that nothing will ever break under normal conditions.

Maintain the suspension mounting locations so that handling is safe and

consistent under high cornering and bump loads. This means that there is no flexing of
the body, or at least to reduce flexing on lowest possible value.

Support the body panels and other components so that evevrything feels solid
and has a reliable life span.

Protect the driver from external intrusion.

Structural stiffness is the basis of what you feel at the seat of your back bottom. It
defines how a car handles, body integrity, and the overall feel of the car. Chassis
stiffness is what separates a great car to drive from what is merely OK.
Contrary to some explanations, there is no such thing as a chassis that doesn't flex, but
some are much stiffer than others. Even highly sophisticated Formula 1 chassis
(actually, Formula 1 has monocoque structure) flex, and sometime some limited and
controlled flexing is built in the car.
The range of chassis stiffness has varied greatly over the years. Basic chassis designs
each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Every chassis is a compromise
between weight, component size, complexity, vehicle intent, and ultimately, the cost.
And even within a basic design method, strength and stiffness can vary significantly,
depending on the details.
There is no such thing as the ultimate method of construction for every car, because
each car presents a different set of problems.

Some think an aluminium chassis

is the path to the lightest design,
but this is not necessarily true.
Aluminium is more flexible than
steel. In fact, the ratio of
stiffness to weight is almost
identical to steel, so an aluminium
chassis must weigh the same as a
steel one to achieve the same
stiffness. Aluminium has an
advantage only where there are
very thin sections where buckling
is possible - but that's not
generally the case with tubing only very thin sheet. And even
then, aircraft use honeycombed
aluminium to prevent buckling. In addition, an aircraft's limitation is not stiffness, but
resistance to failure. Aluminium problems are overcomed something with Audi
Aluminium Spaceframe (ASF), very expensive and for now made in limited models.
Read about that later in this article.
Lets see some chassis basic construction methods from the past and from today. I will
explain a bit more two designs employed more in racing: Spaceframe and Monocoque
(in different article about monocoque in Formula 1)

Ladder Chassis (Body on frame technology)

This is the earliest kind of chassis. From the earliest cars until the early 60s, nearly all
cars in the world used it as standard. Even in today, most SUVs still employ it. Its
construction, indicated by its name, looks like a ladder - two longitudinal rails
interconnected by several lateral and cross braces. The longitude members are the
main stress member. They deal with the load and also the longitudinal forces caused by
acceleration and braking. The lateral and cross members provide resistance to lateral
forces and further increase torsional rigidity. Since it is a (little bit more than) 2
dimensional structure, torsional rigidity is very much lower than other chassis,
especially when dealing with vertical load or bumps.
This technology you can find today in some basic auto racing categories. Most known is
kart. On picture below you can see chassis of an Superkart car without bodywork.

Chassis in
Superkart with
ladder technology
not used in racing
cars for 60 years,
except in kart
class of racing.

Backbone chassis
Backbone chassis is a type of a car construction chassis
that is similar to the ladder design. Instead of a twodimensional ladder type structure, it consists of a strong
tubular backbone (usually but not always rectangular in
cross section) that connects the front and rear suspension
attachment areas. The tunnel or backbone becomes a
primary load bearing member.
Lotus Elan Backbone chassis

Backbone chassis is very

simple: a strong tubular
backbone connects the front
and rear axle and provides nearly all the mechanical
strength.
rectangular in cross section

Inside backbone is space for the drive shaft in case of

front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout like in the case of
Lotus Elan. The whole drivetrain,engine and suspensions
are connected to both ends of the backbone. A body is
then placed on this structure.
It is almost a trademark design feature of Czechoslovak
Tatra heavy trucks (cross-country, military etc.), but this
type of chassis is also often found on small sports cars. It

Skoda Rahmen
with tubular backbone

also does not provide protection against side collisions, and has to be combined with a
body that would compensate for this shortcoming.

Spaceframe
The two most important goals in the design of a race car chassis are that it be
lightweight and rigid. Lightweight is important to achieve the greatest acceleration for a
given engine power. Rigidity is important to maintain precise control over the
suspension geometry, that is, to keep the wheels firmly in contact with the race course
surface. Unfortunately these two goals are often in direct conflict. Finding the best
compromise between weight and rigidity is part of the art and science of race car
engineering.
As ladder chassis was not strong enough, and provide small rigidity values, motor
racing

engineers developed a 3
dimensional design - Tubular space frame.

The spaceframe chassis is about as old as the motorsport scene. Its construction
consists of steel or aluminum tubes placed in a triangulated format, to support the
loads from suspension, engine, driver and aerodynamics. A true space frame has small
tubes that are only in tension or compression - and has no bending or twisting loads in
those tubes. That means that each load-bearing point must be supported in three
dimensions.
Tubular space frame chassis employs dozens of circular-section tubes (some may use
square-section tubes for easier connection to the body panels, though circular section
provides the maximum strength), position in different directions to provide mechanical
strength against forces from anywhere. These tubes are welded together and form a
very complex structure, as you can see in the left picture.

For higher strength required by

high performance sports cars,
tubular space frame chassis usually
incorporate a strong structure
under both doors, hence result in
unusually high door sill and difficult
access to the cabin.
In the early 50s, Mercedes-Benz
created a racing car 300SLR using
tubular space frame. This also
brought the world the first tubular
space frame road car, famous
300SL Gullwing. Since the door sill
dramatically reduced the accessibility of cabin, Mercedes had to extend the doors to the
roof so that created the "Gullwings".
Since the mid 60s, many high-end sports cars also adopted tubular space frame to
enhance the rigidity / weight ratio. However, many of them actually used space frames
for the front and rear structure and made the cabin out of monocoque to cut cost.
There are also some inherent advantages to using spaceframes at the amateur level of
motorsport as well. Spaceframes, unlike the monocoque chassis used in modern
Formula 1 or CART, are easily repaired and inspected for damage.
How does triangulation work? The diagram below shows a box, with a top, bottom and
two sides, but the box is missing the front and back. The box when pushed collapses
easily because there is no support in the front or back.

Of course, race cars (or any other car for that matter) need to be supported in order to
operate properly, and so we triangulate the box by bracing it diagonally. This effectively
adds the front and back which were missing, only instead of using panels, we use tubes
to form the brace. See below:

ACC TO ME TRIANGULATION IS NECCESARY IN SPACEFRAME IN ORDER TO PROVIDE

STIFFNESS WHICH IS NOT POSSIBLE IN LADDER CHASSIS !!!!!

The triangulated box above imparts strength by stressing the green diagonal in Tension.
Tension is the force trying to pull at both ends of the diagonal. Another force is called
Compression. Compression tries to push at both ends of the diagonal (Shown above in
the horizontal yellow tube). In a given size and diameter tube or diagonal, compression
will always cause the tube to buckle long before the same force would cause the tube to
pull apart in tension. As an experiment, try pulling on the ends of a pop can, one end in
each hand. Then, try crushing the can by pushing on both ends. The crushing is much
easier, or at least humanly possible, compared to pulling the can apart.

Spaceframes are really all about tubes held together in compression and tension using
3D pyramid-style structures, and diagonally braced tube boxes. A true spaceframe is
capable of holding its shape, even if the joints between the tubes were hinges. In
practice, a true spaceframe is not practical, and so many designers "cheat" by using
stronger materials to support the open portions of the structure, such as the cockpit
opening.
Torsional rigidity applies to spaceframes too, but because a spaceframe isn't made from
continuous sheet metal or composite panels as in monocoque design, the structure is
used to approximate the same result as the difficulty to twist "cigar car" (read below).

Another reason torsional

rigidity is mentioned here is
that it greatly affects the
suspension performance.
The suspensionitself is
designed to allow
the wheels/tires to follow
the road's bumps and dips.
If the chassis twists when a
tire hits a bump, it acts like
part of the suspension,
meaning that tuning the
suspension is difficult or
impossible. Ideally, the
chassis should be ultra-rigid, and the suspension compliant.

It is important to ensure that the entire chassis supports the loads expected, and does
so with very little flex.
Advantage of spaceframe is that is very strong in any direction compared with ladder
chassis and metal monocoque chassis of the same weight. Disadvantage is that is very
complex, costly and time consuming to be built. Impossible for robotized production.
Besides, it engages a lot of space, raise the door sill and result in difficult access to the
cabin.

Audi Aluminium Space Frame -ASF

Audi A8 was

the first
mass
production
car featuring
Aluminium
Space Frame
(ASF)
chassis.
Developed in
conjunction
with US
aluminium
maker
Alcoa. ASF is
intended to
replace
conventional
steel
monocoque
mainly for
the benefit
of lightness.
Audi claimed A8's ASF is 40% lighter yet 40% stiffer than contemporary steel
monocoque. This enables the 4WD-equipped A8 to be lighter than BMW 740i.
ASF consists of extruded aluminium sections, vacuum die cast components and
aluminium sheets of different thicknesses. They all are made of high-strength
aluminium alloy. At the highly stressed corners and joints, extruded sections are
connected by complex aluminium die casting (nodes). Besides, new fastening methods
were developed to join the body parts together. It's quite complex and production cost
is far higher than steel monocoque.

Audi
A2 and his
spaceframe in

CAD

The Audi A2 employed the second generation of ASF technology, which involves larger
but fewer frames, hence fewer nodes and requires fewer welding. Laser welding is also
extensively used in the bonding. All these helped reducing the production cost to the
extent that the cheap A2 can afford it.
Advantage if this construction is that is lighter than steel monocoque and as space
efficient as it is.

Audi R8 high class sport car

Audi employ same technology 2009 for new Audi R8 high performance sport car. More
elaborated and technically more efficient production, but is still to expensive for mass
production.

Monocoque
In contrast to Spaceframes, the monocoque chassis uses panels, just like the sides of
the box pictured above. Instead of small tubes forming the shape of a box, an entire
panel provides the strength for a given side.

A common shape for 1960s racing cars of monocoque construction was the "cigar". The
cylindrical shape helped impart something called Torsional rigidity. Torsional rigidity is
the amount of twist in the chassis accompanying suspension movement. See the
diagram below.

Monocoque, from Greek for single (mono) and French for shell (coque) (monoshell), is a
construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin
as opposed to using an internal frame that is then covered with a non-load-bearing
skin. Monocoque construction was first widely used in aircraft in the 1930s. Structural
skin or stressed skin is other terms for the same concept. A welded unit body is the
predominant automobile construction technology today.
Today, 99% cars produced in this planet are made of steel monocoque chassis, thanks
to its low production cost and suitability to robotized production.
Monocoque is a one-piece structure which defines the overall shape of the car. In fact,
the "one-piece" chassis is actually made by welding several pieces together. The
floorpan, which is the largest piece, and other pieces are press-made by big stamping
machines. They are spot welded together by robot arms (some even use laser welding)
in a stream production line. The whole
process just takes minutes. After that, some
accessories like doors, bonnet, boot lid, side
panels and roof are added.
Monocoque chassis also benefit crash
protection. Because it uses a lot of metal,
crumple zone can be built into the structure.
Another advantage is space efficiency. The whole structure is actually an outer shell,
unlike other kinds of chassis, therefore there is no large transmission tunnel, high door
sills, and large roll over bar etc. Obviously, this is very attractive to mass production
cars.

There are many disadvantages as well. It's very heavy, thanks to the amount of metal
used. As the shell is shaped to benefit space efficiency rather than strength, and the
pressed sheet metal is not as strong as metal tubes in spaceframe construction or
extruded metal, the rigidity-to-weight ratio is also the lowest among all kinds of chassis
bar the ancient ladder or backbone chassis.
Although monocoque is suitable for mass production by robots, it is nearly impossible
for small-scale production. The setup cost for the tooling is too expensive - big
stamping machines and expensive moldings.

Carbon-Fiber Monocoque
Carbon Fiber is the most sophisticated material using in aircrafts, spaceships and racing
cars because of its superior rigidity-to-weight ratio and very high price.
In the early 80s, FIA established Group B racing category, which allowed the use of
virtually any technology available as long as a minimum of 200 road cars are made. As
a result, road cars featuring Carbon-Fiber body panels started to appear, such as Ferrari
288GTO and Porsche 959.

Production process
Carbon-fiber panels are made by laying carbon-fiber sheets (something look like textile)
in either side of an aluminium or kevlar paper honeycomb inserts. The honeycomb,
which defines the shape of the panel, is sticked with several layers of carbon fiber
sheets impregnated with resin, then cooked in a big oven at 120C and 6 bar (90 psi)
pressure. After that, the carbon fiber composite will be melted and form a uniformal,
rigid body panel.
The use of composite materials in monocoque skins now allows strength, stiffness and
flexibility to be controlled in different fiber directions. Careful design of the direction of
the fibers of successive layers of materials used in the skin can produce different
mechanical properties in different directions while optimizing for weight. Composite
materials can be readily built up into complex three-dimensional shapes making them
ideal for many components. They can also be built to be flexible only in useful ways.
There are several fibers types commonly used in motor industry. Kevlar, which was
developed by Du Pont, offers the highest rigidity-to-weight ratio among them. Kevlar
can also be found in the body panels of many exotic cars as antiintrusion protection.
Carbon-fiber is used in even larger amount. You can find glass fiber for less expensive
but still strong parts. Aluminum honeycomb panels are often in use for monocoque
construction as part of composite structure or as loaded part by itself.

The large number and types of functional demands for the monocoque, coupled with
the multiple plies needed for the carbon or any other composite laminate, create a
complex loading situation that require detailed static and dynamic analysis capabilities.
Engineering teams are using sophisticated software to do the job in optimizing the
design of the monocoque chassis and engine frames. Finite element analysis
(FEA) programs used by many automotive companies for its ability to model multiple
materials and to simulate short duration impact dynamics and complex contact
conditions among multiple components are used. Software can help to determine
optimum locations for attachment points and orientation of the fibers.
Use of a carbon/epoxy monocoque is, therefore, a huge advantage in terms of parts
integration, giving design freedom to customize the laminate at the attachment points
to avoid undue stresses or delamination.
Carbon-Fiber Panels VS Carbon-Fiber Monocoque Chassis
Porsche 959, employed carbon-fiber in body panels only, is obviously inferior to
McLaren F1's carbon-fiber monocoque. This structure not only supports the engine /
drivetrain and suspensions, it also serves as a very rigid survival cell.
Exotic car makers like to tell you their cars employ carbon-fiber in construction. This
sounds very advanced, but you must ask one more question - where is the carbon-fiber
used ? Body panels or chassis?
Most so-called "supercars" use carbon-fiber in body panels only, such as Porsche 959,
Ferrari 288GTO, Ferrari F40 and even lately, the Porsche 911 GT1. Since body panels do
almost nothing to provide mechanical strength, the use of carbon fiber over aluminium
can barely save weight. The stress member remains to be the chassis, which is usually
in heavier and weaker steel tubular frame.
What really sophisticated is carbonfiber monocoque chassis, which had
only ever appeared in McLaren F1,
Bugatti EB110SS (not EB110GT) and
Ferrari F50. It provides superior
rigidity yet optimize weight. No other
chassis could be better.
Carbon Fiber Monocoque made
itsdebut in Formula 1 1981 with
McLaren's MP4/1 Formula One racing
Carbon fiber monocoque chassis of McLaren F1
car, designed by John Barnard. No
sport car
wonder McLaren F1 is the first road
car to feature it.
Unlike McLaren F1, Ferrari F50's rear suspensions are directly bonded to the
engine/gearbox assembly, same as in modern Formula 1 car. This means the engine

becomes the stressed member which supports the load from rear axle. Then, the whole
engine/gearbox/rear suspensions structure is bonded into the carbon fiber chassis
through light alloy. This was a first for a road car.