First off, yes this chassis is a work of art and I congratulate the welder. However, I think this chassis is completely going in the wrong direction and there is no way I would drive that chassis. Now keep in mind I am making some assumptions here, but I am an engineer for an aerospace company and I have experience working with aircraft quality Titanium, I know for certain that the titanium used here is not that quality or it would cost as much as an Indycar chassis. Looking at the picture I can only assume that the tubing is the same size, I cannot verify the wall thickness.

Now look at it this way. Assume two a square bars, a steel one and titanium one, that are 2”X 2” and 4” in length. These bars would have an area of 4 sq in. and a volume of 16 cu in. That would make the steel bar come in at 4.5lbs and the Titanium 2.6 lbs., good so far. Now lets apply a 100,000 lb force to the bars and using the F/A formula the bars will see a pressure/stress of 25 ksi. The steel material yields at 164 ksi and the Titanium at 80 ksi (assume the highest grade reasonably priced). That means the steel has a margin of safety of 85% and the Titanium 68%. So if you want the titanium bar to have the same safety as the steel the bar it would need an area of 8.2 sq in and given the same length a volume of 32.8 cu in. Now the titanium bar weighs 5.3 lbs.

Now titanium is great to use in low loading/non-safety critical parts. But think of this, when you see a 4130 steel chassis hit the wall, it bends and sometimes breaks thus a high loading condition. Do you want to hit that wall with a tin can? To put this in perspective, think of what Shane Hmiels car would have looked like if it was made from titanium. Also, it will be fun setting it up, that chassis going to have a lot more flex.

Give me the heavy cheaper steel chassis.