Quote:
Originally Posted by Purist
I'm guessing that part of the issue with NOT running composite chasses is that the major open-wheel series simply don't want to even have a chance of being in the dark as to how much fatigue-life is left in a given chassis. Carbon is expensive, and shatters, but then, that shattering tells you without ambiguity when you've reached the limits of the material. A carbon/kevlar material will give you that clear indication, but also won't be as bad in terms of shedding shrapnel.
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Tubeframe is old technology. Old in a good way, as in "everyone knows how it works, knows its limits, and knows how to fix it". You know just as well when a frame cracks as you do when carbon splinters. Go to a grassroots race sometime and look at a car after it wrecks. You can tell when it's broken and it can be replaced easily enough. And for shrapnel, if you watch any wreck you would see carbonfibre is much worse than tubeframe in that respect.