tomperkins Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 Just wondering, has anyone ever seen a full carbon Caterham, either full carbon fibre body panels and skin or maybe a carbon fibre chassis? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delbert Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 Norman Verona built one with the late Richard in France search on " the French Blat " weight ended up the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative Golf Juliet Tango Posted June 6, 2016 Area Representative Share Posted June 6, 2016 But proper Arch chassis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECR Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 An experimental Carbon fibre development chassis exists .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomperkins Posted June 6, 2016 Author Share Posted June 6, 2016 Interesting, amazing there was no weight saving. Bet it looked amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomperkins Posted June 6, 2016 Author Share Posted June 6, 2016 Wow, do you have any more details? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Brown Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Richard (RiF) built a full carbon car, apart from the chassis, for his wife Henrietta. Don't know what it weighed. It was for sale for a while but don't know what happened to it. At the time he was building his V6 so all spare money went into it rather than the mechanical spec of Henrietta's.Think the V6 was also carbon bodied and was recently completed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandmaster Flatcap Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 The story of The Beast here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomperkins Posted June 7, 2016 Author Share Posted June 7, 2016 Cool, thanks for the info David. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomperkins Posted June 7, 2016 Author Share Posted June 7, 2016 Thanks for the link Nigel, looks awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative paul richards Posted June 7, 2016 Area Representative Share Posted June 7, 2016 Henrietta still has her all carbon car. Only done a little over 4000 miles and immaculate. Living in a carcoon for all it's life. She could probably be persuaded to part with it if anyone is interested. PM me if you want details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomperkins Posted June 7, 2016 Author Share Posted June 7, 2016 Are there any photos online do you know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative paul richards Posted June 7, 2016 Area Representative Share Posted June 7, 2016 Not to my knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlesElliott Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 I thought that Peter De La Mare bought Richard's car and was rebuilding it. There are some threads on Pistonheads with the story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloucestershire AR Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Axon built a prototype - all carbon chassis as well as panels. Didn't weight any less but was/is immensely strong. The car was built up for PR purposes but don't think it ever ran.Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloucestershire AR Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Bottom pic at http://www.axonautomotive.com/gallery.html shows the bare chassis.Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomperkins Posted June 8, 2016 Author Share Posted June 8, 2016 Thanks Andy, very interesting. It's amazing it gave no weight saving don't you think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonL Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 but was/is immensely strongI guess that is why it didn't weigh any less. It only needs to be as strong as the steel version which should be achievable with carbon fibre for less weight. The photo of it certainly makes it look 'chunky' - I assume that if it was made up using slightly more 'refined' techniques (probably at a huge cost) it would be as strong as a steel chassis but lighter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted June 8, 2016 Member Share Posted June 8, 2016 Yes. Does anyone know the ground rules for the design?And did it include a full stress analysis? (There's one done by a graduate student somewhere for the conventional 7.)Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloucestershire AR Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Not sure how they got to the design. Axon uses a technique for recycling carbon fibre (often from old US jet planes) that is strong but not quite as strong as CF using 'new' carbon fibre matting AIUI. They produce square tubes so I assume they simply took those and made them fit an existing pattern. I think the aim was to see if it was possible and relatively cheap and easy rather than to produce the best possible design.In effect, if a chassis could be produced a bit like a spaceframe in that you cut off lengths of tube then weld (glue) them all together, you end up with a relatively low tech easy to manufacture product that suits a small volume car maker.In terms of design Dr Steve Cousins, who runs Axon, is ex Cranfield and I know their eco 7 had input from a professor of aero at Cranfield too so I'm pretty certain they would have done the sums pretty well before building the car.I see from Axon's website that they're now working with Westfield on a rotary engined car with carbon bits so that should be interesting. It's a pity their relationship with Caterham didn't/hasn't yet(?) developed further though.Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative gileshudson Posted June 8, 2016 Area Representative Share Posted June 8, 2016 Phew, found it... I thought I remembered finding and saving this Caterham carbon chassis casestudy into my Dropbox account many years ago. They talk of 60% weight saving and a cost 4 times that of steel, but I did only scan read it.They do also show the finished car at the end of the document too and say it was due to road test in September 2007. Enjoy here peeps... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted June 8, 2016 Member Share Posted June 8, 2016 Thanks for both of those: that explains why they did it that way. Fascinating.Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloucestershire AR Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Excellent - thanks Giles. Hadn't seen that before but it explains it much better! The 'finished' car in the pic was subsequently stripped and I'm not sure it was ever road tested. A pity!Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomperkins Posted June 8, 2016 Author Share Posted June 8, 2016 Thanks Giles, some bedtime reading Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative gileshudson Posted June 9, 2016 Area Representative Share Posted June 9, 2016 :O) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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