“Hmmm” – I hear you say. “I hadn’t thought of that”, and “Why on earth do you need to know that?”, you follow up. I sense you ponder, as you pour yourself a nice New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, what with you, dear reader, being the carbon fibre sophisticate I know you are.

Well, the reason is, I’m making some brackets to hold my new handbrake actuator in place, which weighs 2.4kg. In the world of normal steel stuff, I’d get by with 1.5mm brackets and that would hold. So, bearing in mind that cabon is stronger and lighter than steel weight for weight, I shouldn’t go much thicker.

so, what’s the answer? Well, my research (for resin infusion only) is that for every 200gsm, you get 0.2mm worth of thickness.

Also, I’m using 3mm Lantor Soric as a core for all of this, which separates the layers and adds stiffness for little extra weight, but more volume consumed. What’s more, the soric also works for compressive hard-points.

This bracket pair (post to follow) follows Warren’s Rule (every composite part must do at least two different jobs). The brackets hold the handbrake actuator, they couple the bottom of the transmission tunnel side to side, making it a box for part of it’s length (adding rigidity) and it’s a flat piece of carbon, improving underfloor aero.