As part of the continued evolution work for the Traxxas 1/16 chassis, I have been looking into ways to stretch the wheelbase for stability and center-of-gravity purposes as well as to give me a platform to improve on the odd proportions defining my body-shell designs.

Google searches for extended Traxxas 1/16 chassis turns up a variety of approaches: chassis has been extended through the battery box area, the rear bulkhead mounting could be stretched. However, cutting up the chassis introduces structural strength challenges that would have to be overcome as well as locating the hundreds of screws Traxxas uses to hold things together.

A potentially straightforward method would be to simply move the wheels back with modified suspension arms.

Extending the wheelbase to 225mm (a stretch of about 15mm) puts the chassis dimensions in the range of of Kyosho's Plazma and HPI's Cup Racer, which coupled with "mini" size wheels opens up even more opportunities. 225mm is also about the limit for what angles the suspension and driveshafts can reasonably reach while keeping the standard Traxxas toe- and push-rods. Moving the rear wheels back around those rods also narrows the rear axle track somewhat, so rear wheels will need to run a deeper 6mm offset to maintain the same overall track width.

First mockups explored adding 10mm and 15mm to the rear suspension arms. The angles and packaging get a little extreme, obvious challenges lay with preventing the arms from bending and flexing while wrapping around the various driveshafts and rods. The longer arms also subtly shift of the chassis' center of gravity forward. Hopefully the arms will be strong enough to hold up to some test runs to see how that weight shift and the lengthened wheelbase effect handling and balance.

I am also looking into cutting and extending the box-section of the chassis itself to relocate the entire rear bulkhead & suspension assembly rearward. Ultimately my desire is to retain the Traxxas pushrod suspensions and bulkheads but do a complete redesign of the layout of the chassis to lower the center of gravity and lengthen the wheelbase in the spirit of this low-CG on-road build...