An exoskeleton car has a visible external frame, being made of steel, aluminum or carbon fiber tubes.
Body styles are open wheel sports cars, with their wheels outside of the main body and each wheel covered by its own lightweight mudguard, usually carried as unsprung weight supported on the hub carrier. The chassis has four large longitudinal tubes, two on each side of the car body, inboard of the wheels. These main chassis tubes are spaced apart by smaller diagonal or vertical tubes.
Structurally, an exoskeleton chassis is midway between a ladder chassis and a spaceframe chassis. At its simplest, it consists of two ladder chassis, one above the other. The classic ladder chassis is stiff against sideways forces, but weak against vertical bending forces. Using paired tubes, separated vertically, makes the chassis much stiffer in this direction. Unlike a spaceframe though, the main forces act as bending loads upon these tubes, rather than the pure tension or compression forces of the true spaceframe.
A drawback to the exoskeleton is that there is no chance to cut doors through the upper suspension tubes. The car style is thus restricted to low-slung cars, for agile drivers prepared to climb out over their high sills.
The simplistic construction of the vehicle follows Colin Chapman's philosophy of maximizing the power-to-weight ratio by minimising weight rather than simply adding power. Early monocoque racing cars such as the Lotus 25 had their chassis exposed but the term exoskeletal is more usually reserved for vehicles with an exposed space frame, such as sandrails, dune buggies or specialized light weight track cars.
A bogie is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transport. A bogie may remain normally attached or be quickly detachable. It may include a suspension component within it, or be solid and in turn be suspended ; it may be mounted on a swivel, as traditionally on a railway carriage or locomotive, additionally jointed and sprung, or held in place by other means.
Monocoque, also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word monocoque is a French term for "single shell".
A dune buggy — also known as a beach buggy — is a recreational off-road vehicle with large wheels, and wide tires, designed for use on sand dunes, beaches, off-road or desert recreation. The design is usually a topless vehicle with a rear-mounted engine. A dune buggy can be created by modifying an existing vehicle or custom-building a new vehicle.
The unsprung mass of a vehicle is the mass of the suspension, wheels or tracks, and other components directly connected to them. This contrasts with the sprung mass supported by the suspension, which includes the body and other components within or attached to it. Components of the unsprung mass include the wheel axles, wheel bearings, wheel hubs, tires, and a portion of the weight of driveshafts, springs, shock absorbers, and suspension links. Brakes that are mounted inboard are part of a vehicle's sprung mass.
Suspension is the system of tires, tire air, springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels and allows relative motion between the two. Suspension systems must support both road holding/handling and ride quality, which are at odds with each other. The tuning of suspensions involves finding the right compromise. It is important for the suspension to keep the road wheel in contact with the road surface as much as possible, because all the road or ground forces acting on the vehicle do so through the contact patches of the tires. The suspension also protects the vehicle itself and any cargo or luggage from damage and wear. The design of front and rear suspension of a car may be different.
In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. Space frames can be used to span large areas with few interior supports. Like the truss, a space frame is strong because of the inherent rigidity of the triangle; flexing loads are transmitted as tension and compression loads along the length of each strut.
A truggy is a type of high performance off-road racing vehicle that combines features from two older existing categories of off-road racing vehicles, trucks and buggies. The first truggies were built for racing in the SCORE and BITD off-road desert racing series, held in Mexico, California, Nevada and Arizona.
The Chapman strut is a design of independent rear suspension used for light cars, particularly sports and racing cars. It takes its name from, and is best known for its use by, Colin Chapman of Lotus.
The Meyers Manx dune buggy is a small recreationally-oriented automobile, designed initially for desert racing by Californian engineer, artist, boat builder and surfer Bruce F. Meyers. It was produced by his Fountain Valley, California company, B. F. Meyers & Co. from 1964 to 1971, in the form of car kits applied to shortened chassis of Volkswagen Beetles. The car line dominated dune racing in its time, breaking records immediately, and was eventually also released in street-oriented models, until the company's demise due to tax problems after Meyers's departure. New vehicles inspired by the original Manx buggy have been produced by Meyers's re-founded operation, Meyers Manx, Inc., since 2000. The name and cat logo of the brand derives from the Manx cat, by virtue of the tailless breed's and the shortened vehicle's truncated "stubbiness".
A sandrail, also called a sand rail, rail, or sand car, is a lightweight off-road motor vehicle specifically built for traveling in sandy terrain. Synonymously referred to as dune buggies, a sandrail is a type of speciality vehicle. Sandrails are popularly operated on actual sand dunes. Sandrails can be driven on other types of terrain but are designed specifically for sand.
Superleggera is a custom tube and alloy panel automobile coachwork construction technology developed by Felice Bianchi Anderloni of Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera. A separate chassis was still required.
Body-on-frame is a traditional motor vehicle construction method whereby a separate body or coach is mounted on a strong and relatively rigid vehicle frame or chassis that carries the powertrain and to which the wheels and their suspension, brakes, and steering are mounted. While this was the original method of building automobiles, body-on-frame construction is now used mainly for pickup trucks, large SUVs, and heavy trucks.
An anti-roll bar is an automobile suspension part that helps reduce the body roll of a vehicle during fast cornering or over road irregularities. It links opposite front or rear wheels to a torsion spring using short lever arms for anchors. This increases the suspension's roll stiffness—its resistance to roll in turns.
A gravity racer or soapbox is a motorless vehicle which is raced on a downhill road either against the clock or against another competitor. The vehicles are propelled by gravity.
A subframe is a structural component of a vehicle, such as an automobile or an aircraft, that uses a discrete, separate structure within a larger body-on-frame or unit body to carry certain components, such as the engine, drivetrain, or suspension. The subframe is bolted and/or welded to the vehicle. When bolted, it is sometimes equipped with rubber bushings or springs to dampen vibration.
Kyosho Corporation is a Japanese company based in Tokyo, which operates internationally under the name KYOSHO. The company's main office is located in Chiyoda, and the production headquarters are located in Atsugi, Kanagawa.
The Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle (CERV) is a series of Chevrolet experimental cars. Chevrolet Staff engineer, designer, and race car driver Zora Arkus-Duntov started development of the CERV I in 1959, and began work on the CERV II in 1963. Chevrolet chief engineer Don Runkle and Lotus' Tony Rudd discussed creating a new show car to demonstrate their engineering expertise in 1985; It would become the CERV III. Corvette chief engineer Dave Hill unveiled the CERV IV in 1993, a test vehicle for the 1997 C5 Corvette.
Backbone tube chassis is a type of automobile construction chassis that is similar to the body-on-frame design. Instead of a two-dimensional ladder-type structure, it consists of a strong tubular backbone that connects the front and rear suspension attachment areas. A body is then placed on this structure. It was first used in the English Rover 8hp of 1904 and then the French Simplicia automobile in 1909.
A vehicle frame, also historically known as its chassis, is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism.
A platform chassis is a form of vehicle frame / automobile chassis, constructed as a flat plate or platform, sometimes integrating a backbone or frame-structure with a vehicle's floor-pan.