Caterham chassis ?

[AJI]

Hello guys,
Just wanting to know if the Caterham chassis design is the same throughout the model range?
ie. is the R500 chassis the same as the others? Are the Superlight chassis different?

Cheers for any info... I'm not all that gelled up on caterhams.

[bertie]

There are varients of chassis, basicly, and no doubt someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but here goes....

Standard S3 non superlight chassis ie K series, roadsports etc.
The superlight chassis for R300/400/500
The SV Chassis for lard arses.
The CSR chassis with the independant reas suspension and other changes.

[AJI]

Thanks Bertie; some useful info there.

[ewenm]

And bear in mind that the chassis manufacturer has changed recently - the CSR ones are made by Caged, the older ones by Arch (IIRC).

[jaker]

I was told that the the standard chassis is now the same as the superlight chassis though. Can't vouch for it, but it makes sense from a production p.o.v.

[jackal]

arch chassis, there is of course teh race chassis and also the R500 chassis was different IIRC

[lord summerisle]

Race chassis being like the pre 95 cars with the handbrake under the dash....?

[LRdriver II]

..and two diagonals, one under the driver and one in the driver footwell. also the passenger footwell is shorter due to the battery is located there in the enginebay.
(race chassis btw..)

[jackal]

handbrake area is also missing some complexity IIRC so that the whole transmission tunnel will crush in teh event of a side impact

(i personally found this quite chilling when i found it out)

[bertie]

jackal said:

handbrake area is also missing some complexity IIRC so that the whole transmission tunnel will crush in teh event of a side impact

On the chassis the handbrake is bolted between 2 sheet metal brackets off the transmission tunnel, I can't see missing theose off will make any differance.

The transmission tunnel is still there and full of prop shaft and gearbox so I'm not sure I understand?

[jackal]

around the upper handbrake area the race chassis has less members so that it will crush when forced sideways, the idea being that your pelvis will stay intact. To convert a true race chassis to have a handbrake here invloves a LOT of strengthening work....

Edited by jackal on Wednesday 7th June 23:25

[LRdriver II]

So which is a better chassis?.. a race chassis or the ones with handbrake in the transmission tunnel?

Currently my ex-academy car weighs 516kg(no fuel but with coolant and oil in the apollo) and thats with side intrusion/wheel bars,standard 5 speed box and plumbed extinguisher. So obviously its got potential to drop below 500kg.
I am in two minds to upgrade it to r300/sl spec or sell and get an R300/SL instead. But I like the lower battery location, lack of heater and honeycombed structure so hence my confusion?.. it sounds from this thread that a race chassis is a piece of wet noodle amd a later chassis is stiffer, hence a better upgrade platform..so whats the deal?..is it a POS or not? should I really discount the race chassis?

[fergus]

[redacted]

[rubystone]

Fergus, I ma yhave asked you this before, but did you buy Tightfart's yellow 2001 registered SLR from Simon Smith?...I was close to buying that once but Richard and I were just a little too far apart in our price.

[fergus]

rubystone said:

Fergus, I ma yhave asked you this before, but did you buy Tightfart's yellow 2001 registered SLR from Simon Smith?...I was close to buying that once but Richard and I were just a little too far apart in our price.

Ruby

Nope, bought Paul Aram's car 'Northern Banana'. Then put an Emerald & SLR cage on it and had Road & Race trans rebuild the gearbox for me. I quite fancy a mk I GT3 though at the moment! Would like another 964RS, but not sure about how easy it is to find a good one these days!

My car is one of the early 1998 SLR race cars, so has a bag tank, slightly different chassis, etc. Also exempts it from the MOT emissions test - which is nice....

[rubystone]

[quote=fergusNope, bought Paul Aram's car 'Northern Banana'. Then put an Emerald & SLR cage on it and had Road & Race trans rebuild the gearbox for me. I quite fancy a mk I GT3 though at the moment! Would like another 964RS, but not sure about how easy it is to find a good one these days!

My car is one of the early 1998 SLR race cars, so has a bag tank, slightly different chassis, etc. Also exempts it from the MOT emissions test - which is nice....[/quote]

Ah I see. Good upgrades BTW. I also have a hankering for a Mk 1 GT3 - about the only 911 I think I'd buy now...although if I had a good excuse, I'd buy a 993 Turbo4 as an everyday car

[incorrigible]

Arch are still making the newer chassis aren't they

They were certainly making IRS chassis when I was up there a couple of weeks ago

[POORCARDEALER]

Yes arch are still making the chassis.........my body/chassis I have on order from Caterham is going to be three weeks late for some reason

[bertie]

jackal said:

around the upper handbrake area the race chassis has less members so that it will crush when forced sideways, the idea being that your pelvis will stay intact. To convert a true race chassis to have a handbrake here invloves a LOT of strengthening work....

Looking at this picture of a standard chassis it's difficult to see what they remove to make it a race chassis in that area without it falling apart!

I still think the differance in this area is the handbrake brackets only.

[jackal]

If you are interested in teh exact differences then give Bruce a call or have a trawl through blatchat... all teh information is there somewhere I expect.