Lightweight design
Especially in the design of the chassis you can safe a significant amount of weight by having a clever design and an optimal use of materials. While you try to minimize weight for performance, the chassis still needs to ensure the safety of the driver in possible accidents.
About our Chassis
As one of the only teams in the Formula Student, KaRaT has build a monocoque as it’s chassis since the first year.
The monocoque is completely manufactured by students, which takes a lot of time and effort. But the result pays off not only visually: Besides advantages regarding performance students get to work with state-of-the art materials and manufacturing processes.
Aerodynamics are also a critical parts of the cars overall performance as they add mechanical grip without (ideally) adding much weight. This allows for higher cornering speeds and faster lap times.
what we do
Simulation and Design
Material Testing
Manufacturing
Technical highlights
Take a look at some parts of our chassis and the corresponding sponsors, which support us!
CFRP Monocoque
Carbon Fiber not only looks cool!
The monocoque is built like a sandwich made from two layers of carbon fiber with aluminum honeycombs in between. Through intensive material testing the material combination and layup structure is chosen and provides a very high stiffness at a relatively low weight.
Suspension attachment points
Precise Suspension Geometry
To ensure a suspension system that acts as planned, precise mouting points are necessary. Therefore, the holes were drilled on a 5-axis milling machine. Additionally, the monocque has inserts around those points to locally increase stiffness.
Drivers Safety
Extensive safety precautions protect the driver in case of an accident
Drivers in the Formula Student are fully enclosed in a roll-over protection envelope. At the front of the car, an Impact Attentuator is located to absorp energy in case of a crash. This crash box but also the mounting points of the drivers harness and the roll hoops must undergo physical testing.
- 6-point driver harness
- Braced Steel Roll Hoop
- Aluminum Front (Roll-) Hoop
- Physically tested crash system
Ergonomics
moulded from actual drivers
The Driver has, of course, a big influence on the cars performance. To provide the driver with the best racing experience, the general position of the driver is very important and needs to be tanken into account from the start of the design phase.
Also, components like the steering wheel or the seat are moulded from real persons to ensure maximum comfort.
Aerodynamics
Downforce as a key performance factor
Our aerodynamic package consists of a front and rear wing, a side tray and a diffusor. They are designed with the help of state-of-the-art software and validation in a wind tunnel. Together the components guide the air around the race car in a way to reduce drag and, more importantly, create downforce and therefore increasing the force which the tires can put onto the track.