Choosing a 100mph Chassis

The platform I use to build the car will have to fit within my own rules and will only be limited by its purpose.


1. Must be lightweight – I’m going to use carbon fiber initially because it’s the lightest, strongest, and abundant material that many manufacturers already make high performance chassis from.

2. Must have enough space to hold all of my electronics - This car will need a high RPM motor, an electronic speed control, a high capacity battery pack, a steering servo, a RPM meter, and a speedometer. Based on this I think the car must bat at least 1/12 scale, and possible 1/10 scale.

3. Must be durable & usable in standard race classes – See above reasoning for using carbon fiber.

4. 2 Wheel drive may be the easiest way to go – Many of the current electric on-road cars are 4wd, and while this would be a more impressive engineering feat, it adds more parts. To me more parts in the car mean more parts to break. By keeping it 2wd I eliminate the need for a belt drive that could possible break, and the need for a differential that would not be meant for excessive RPM’s. This should cut down on my broken parts and down time. I will look at both front and rear engine designs, but initially I will be focusing on a rear engine car mainly because that’s what the manufactures produce.

5. Central battery & engine location – This will help keep the car running straight and the load equally balanced bilaterally on the tires.



Based on my above ideas I came to the conclusion that I will use either an electric 2wd touring car with a central battery mount, or a drag car that is within my 24 inch wheelbase rule.



TOURING CAR
The best touring cars that I have found are the Calandra Racing Concepts Gen10X, the CRC Gen12X, the team associated RC12L4, and the Tamiya F103GT. There are probably many others that I’m not aware of that would do the job, so ill update this list as I find and try new possibilities. I haven’t tested any of these cars, so all of my ideas are based on speculation.


DRAG CAR
The drag cars I have considered for this project are all of them. Seriously, every platform has the lightweight, center weight, short wheelbase, and durability that I’m looking for. Currently there are drag classes for Pro Stock, Funny Car, Top Fuel and many others. There seems to be 3 companies that make electric drag car chassis.

Grand Motorsports – Make all classes of chassis out of carbon fiber & aluminum. These are priced around $200 and seem to be a popular choice for many racers. http://www.grandmotorsports.com/

RJ Speed – Make a 24” wheelbase dragster, 11” pro-stock, and 13” funny car. These models are tagged as the “entry level” cars, and are priced at under $100. I’m not sure what they are made of or their quality, but for under $100 they would be ideal if you start breaking parts. http://www.rjspeed.com/

Any other RC drag car would possibly work. I will list them as I find them, and please feel free to comment and I will update the posts.

In the next post ill let you know what platform I chose for my initial run.