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Hi Everyone! My name is Patryk, I am member of AGH Racing from Krakow.
I am writing to ask you about the skid plate. Unfortunately we are suposed to instal this guard below oil tank. Do anybody could tell me about the thickness of
the skid plate, made from steel or aluminium which is/was recommend ? Is here a team which had used this solution, before compet ?
I can not remember reading anything about a skid plate. Can you tell us the article number of this rule?
If you're talking about what I think you are, this is an FSG specific rule I believe, unless it was implemented in the international rules recently, I don't remember.
Only if the sump sticks out the bottom of your frame do you need a skid plate. Although if there is no protection underneath your fuel tank, you may be asked to provide a skid plate here, whether is protrudes from the frame on not, simply on safety grounds rather than any specific rules. We used about 4-6 ply of wet-lay kevlar (we had the materials hanging around) for protecting the fuel tank (space frame chassis), seemed like a good material and the scrutineers found it satisfactory. So something like that might do for the sump, you'll need to ask.
Alternatively you just need to extend the frame to protect the sump in case of suspension failure. The way the rules are phrased is strange, as it seems to suggest that if your frame does not meet one requirement then you must modify it to meet another rather than the first. :s We simply added some little stubby lengths of tube poking down out of the lower rear of the chassis (on nodes) with bump stops (blocks of plastic) in the ends acting as bump stops. Not very elegant, but adequate.
I also think you are talking about the FSG specific rule about the protection of the oil pan. Although in general I think that this rule makes sense, the wording of the rule is very unspecific. In general the concern is that in case of a suspension failure the car falls on the oil pan, which will brake and the whole track is full of oil. Obviously nobody wants that.
In my opinion the best way to achieve that is what Dunk proposed. Add a little tubing rearwards of the engine which reaches below the oil pan. This way the car will drop on these if the rear suspension fails and you don't need to install a skid plate at all.
And here once more the general advice that on this forum you can just get opinions. An official answer which will definitely valid at comp you can only get from the rules committee of the competition you plan to take part at.
Thank you Guys. In my opinion the tubing could be the best solution if we bear in mind the weight of a skid plate, but in fact the option to use kevlar, main material of the skid plate should be also rational.
Have a nice day,
Patryk