The inspiration for this project emerged one night on the workbench while trying to achieve a left to right static chassis balance on my ETC3. Anyone who has tried this will agree that it soon becomes apparent there is a significant imbalance in the standard ETC3 chassis. When I finally located the longitudinal balance point I was amazed to discover it was 5-6mm (approx. ¼") off the chassis centreline (wheels, suspension and drive train removed). To offset this imbalance I had to either add significant weight to the right side of the chassis or increase the left side ride height. Either of these techniques will result in a statically balanced car but at the cost of, increased weight or an unsymmetrical suspension geometry. To me neither solution was acceptable and the project was born.
The main focus in the design of this chassis was to improve on what is already a race proven concept. I doubt that anyone will argue this fact when you consider the number of major championships won by TC3 drivers and the number of RC Car manufacturers that have copied the design concept. So how do you improve on an already good thing. Well the answer is there is always room for improvement just ask any race team whether it be NASCAR or F1. There are always things that can be done better.
Once I decided to attempt this project the goals were simple. First to improve the static left/right & front/rear weight balance of the car. Second to improve on the dynamic properties of the chassis by placing the large mass components as close to the centre of gravity as possible. Lastly yes that's right lastly to reduce the overall weight of the car.
Achieving these goals has proved to be a challenging task. I didn't truly appreciate how many different factors come into play until I worked through them all. There are always conflicting requirements and compromises to be made when placing components. You have to fight to maintain left-right and front-rear weight balance, lowest possible centre of gravity, minimize weight, improve chassis dynamics, maintain adequate chassis stiffness, component wiring and simply packaging everything to fit within the smallest possible package without any interference. The design you see presented here is the result of many, many hours of 3D CAD design. I believe it has a lot of potential.
