The Victoria University (VU) FSAE team is to enter the 2017 Australian competition with a new racing vehicle. This report outlines the final design of the chassis to be utilised by the VU team. The chassis design benchmark is set by the 2016 chassis. The over-riding objectives in the design of the chassis are the following: the minimisation of its total mass and an increase in the torsional stiffness.

In addition to achieving these design specifications, a modal analysis of the 2017 chassis has been performed to determine the critical modes and their corresponding natural frequencies. This is supplemented with a stress analysis of the chassis which accounts for braking and cornering forces which may develop during a variety of dynamic manoeuvring scenarios.

A cost report is produced for the materials and the process involved in the manufacture of the structural components which comprise the chassis. These processes include, among others, steel tubing, tube cutting and welding. The material ultimately selected, AISI 1010, although assumed to be the most appropriate choice based upon its attractive properties, has been compared with two other steel grades in a material indices ranking scheme.

A set of detailed manufacturing drawings has been generated for production purposes.