Race-car nutz probably will recognize Herb Adams' name, as the
designer of Trans-Am chassis structures for Pontiac back in the early
days. He's still at it, and still designing high-performance chassis
-- with paper, balsa, and model airplane cement. A current article in
_Automotive Engineering_

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/sae/.../index.php#/20

....describes his design approach, which he started before CAD and FEA
turned it into a virtual exercise.

If the idea interests you, and I have used it for designing various
things, because I never had any better FEA than CADDRE Lite, you
should read his book, _Chassis Engineering_. I've had it since the
id-'80s and it's still a classic that provokes a lot of ideas beyond
racing and sports car design.

--
Ed Huntress