Yeah, 2018 was behind a dragster. SCTA really did not want them running it much harder than they did. And yes the bike was carbon fiber. But FWIW, a friend of mine that is a total gearhead (races dirt) and a frame builder WAS set to build her rig for the attempt out of Steel until her sponsors got involved.
All I remember is 150mph plus behind a '55 Chevy with a guy doing the pedaling, probably quite a bit before 2018!
Airplanes have been built from steel tubing properly arranged to support the power and stresses that it will be subjected to. Its still a popular method for "home builders/experimental".........the aero equivalent of Hot Rodders. It requires a lot of design planning and engineering ability. The Maseratti is simply an example of advanced engineering for the time where this same technology was successfully used in a race car. Since there are examples of other things like bamboo mentioned, think about the fact that wood was/is also a popular building material for airplanes. One of the largest and most famous was the huge "Spruce Goose". Designed and built by the eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes, it featured 4 large engines. Edit: Correction, the Spruce Goose had 8 engines, not 4. Thanks to Hnstray for reminding me of that. The point isn't that these materials can't be used to build a lightweight vehicle.......but that they require proper material selection and application to gain a benefit. If thats done its a perfectly viable building material. If memory serves me, there was a limited build a few years ago with I think 32 Fords as the recipient of a tubular chassis. Don't remember any details. People racing at Bonnieville are also excellent examples of using tubing chassis in vehicles. Since this is the Hamb, I can't post a video that I would like to put here, so for those of you that want to see a great example of a wooden supercar, look on Utube and search for " SPLINTER-The Worlds First Wooden Supercar " Did you know that wood can have a better strength to weight ratio than steel? So lots of materials are viable with proper engineering and application. youtube]ofDAeGxO9 (put Tc after the 9 and then use that to find the Splinter video)
For a car made for a specific use, like LSR attempts, I would not hesitate to use wood laminated structure at all. The main caveat here is that this vehicle would never have to operate in traffic, or be subjected to external impact. The powertrain could be designed to detach from the structure to reduce the possibility of having to wrestle with a blazing hot lump of metal in a crash if one occurred. WAY outside of HAMB here. Proof that there is a wealth of imagination here!
The Jalopy Journal
