Posts filed under 'Design projects'
New TRF 416 experimental chassis
CAD pictures of two new experimental upper chassis soon to be tested.


June 18, 2009
LIPO battery weights
With the introduction of the 100 g lighter LIPO batteries for this season ballast needs to be added to the car. The ultimate solution was to use LIPO batteries that have a flat bottom and glue heavy tungsten plates to the bottom of the battery.
The tungsten alloy material used has 60% more density than lead and stonger than steel making it very suitable for gluing the plates to the battery. Formula 1, Le Mans prototypes etc. use this material as ballast because you get a lot of weight in a small space.
Total weight for 6 plates is 85 g and the complete LIPO battery weight is 370 g with car center of gravity as low as possible.

Gluing the weights. Using a chassis plate as template for positioning of the weights.

Center of gravity as low as possible.

Same weight as a 5 cell NIMH battery.
June 13, 2009
Track sprayer
During June and July we developed a new track sprayer device to be able to spray the track with sugar water very quickly. With this device the track can be sprayed with 40 liters of sugar water in a couple of minutes. The special nozzles produces small droplets that dries very quickly and the track is ready to drive almost instantly.
Spray beam + pump
September 25, 2008
New TRF 416 chassis parts
The new main chassis plates and and top decks arrived and have been tested for torsional stiffness. The test was a simple arrangement just to get some information about the stiffness of diffrent carbon fibre materials. Here are the results:
Supertec 5 cell 2 mm main chassis - 6 % stiffer than the standard 416 chassis (both new, never run)
Supertec 2 mm CRP top deck - 7,5 % softer than standard 416 top deck
Supertec 2 mm Carbon fibre top deck - 22 % stiffer
Supertec 2,3 mm Carbon fibre top deck - 46 % stiffer
Soon these parts will be track tested.
February 25, 2008
TRF 416 development chassis parts
We are soon to test new chassis parts for the TRF 416. The new upper deck will be 2,4 mm and assembling this in the car will be a fast and simple way to test the effect of less chassis flex.
The 6 cell main chassis is a direct copy of the standard chassis but made from high grade carbon fiber in 2,0 or 2,4 mm. We have also designed a 5 cell chassis with the battery position optimized. The chassis parts will be made from high grade carbon fiber. The torsional stiffness will be measured and compared with the standard chassis.
CAD images.
February 3, 2008
Tamiya TRF 416 development programme
We are starting a development programme for the new Tamiya TRF 416 touring car chassis. We are waiting for the delivery of the cars scheduled at the end of december. We have already started some initial analysis of the steering system.
Under development…
November 25, 2007

