
The yellow box mounted to the side of the cockpit is one of the side sill structures. These will provide additional torsional and beam stiffness in addition to providing side-impact protection. Ideally these boxes be made of a composite sandwich structure and bolt to the steel beams on the side of the cockpit. The advantage of composite materials is that they provide maximum stiffness and crash energy dissipation for their weight. In the event of a collision a new box could be bolted to the frame. An alternative option is to make the boxes out of square steel tubes paneled in aluminum sheet.
The transmission tunnel - the other major source of torsional stiffness - could also be made out of a composite structure and bolted to the steel frame. It would be a more practical solution than the full carbon fiber tubs used on many modern supercars. By using a few composite elements bolted to a steel framework the size of the parts become much more manageable. Smaller composite parts don't require the huge and expensive molds, ovens, and autoclaves full composite tubs require.
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