[rat_rod_russell]

Ok, So this is the last time I’m going to re start this frame design, I promise, maybe……. I sent these photos of the V0.4 frame to Dave (aka the customer) and he, well, probably better to just let you read it.

Thanks for all the updates and the oil pump data. The added headroom is not too big of a push but necessary. In order to get this on a track and race, I will need to pass the safety nazis. Let's get this set-up for track use first and street legal second. This means a lot of of show stuff goes away and clearly marked safety equipment is plain view. It may end up looking like a cross between a midget and baja 1000 cage by the time its done.

The general requirements that I remember are the helmet has to be at least two inches from any contact point. I will be padding the roll bar with standard dense foam. This should be added to the roll bar calculations for final diameter. What spec do you design the roll cage to for track use?

I will need shoulder harness bars. The harness bar use to be 15 degrees less than the harnesses seat entry point. I didn't see this in the frame pictures. I prefer to use a six point mount. Open cockpit = arm restraints. I'll need a point to attach these. The seat should have enough space for a neck brace and helmet support. Just means the seat angle should consider this. Other non-frame stuff - Easy access to kill switch, front and back tow straps to get a ride off the track. Purple K extinguisher will need to be within reach.

So there you have it. It’s going to be a race car that might just be street legal for the hell of it. So any suggestions of racing classes will be awesome so I can start looking at specific rules so he can hopefully have some wheel to wheel fun in some class but I’m pretty sure this car will mostly be a track day / time attack tool more than anything. Dave’s a cool guy but he’s also really really damn busy.

Onto the current design and what’s changed. This is Version 0.4 and so 0.1-0.3 are all scarped for various reasons. The big design change in this one is breaking the frame into a defined top and bottom sections so it can be fabricated in relation to the body. Basically build the bottom half and a good chunk of the top then put the body on the bottom and drop the top half in on top of it and weld the two together. Also remember this was supposed to be a street car with track abilities at this point. Still some fine tuning and I need to take a trip over to use my friends FEA to see where I need to make the fine adjustments and I need to add in a few more bars now for the race version of the chassis.