>Jamie Sculerati wrote about the "New Fiero"
<snip>
>Just for info, the '88 chassis on the Fiero was designed by Lotus - - - -
I have to come out of lurk mode to provide more accurate information.
I was involved with the Fiero from when it was a twinkle in Hulki
Aldicatki's and Harry Redding's eye in 1979 until 1988.
The 1988 front and rear suspensions were designed by Terry Satchell when he
was the suspension release engineer at Pontiac and then C-P-C
(Chevrolet-Pontiac-GM Canada) Engineering. You may know him now as the
engineer for Andy Petree Racing in NASCAR with stops at Pratt and Miller
and Penske Racing along the way. Terry did do various projects with Lotus
Engineering, and they may have kibitzed on the side, but the configuration,
geometry, and design was Terry's. He was working on a neat version of the
rear suspension with a tri-link lower and control arm upper that would have
been an additional improvement, but alas, the plug was pulled before that
concept could be further developed.
Just as a note. The front suspension of the first Fieros came from the
Chevette, whose front suspension was actually designed by Opel in the early
70's. The geometry of that suspension was quite good (other than the
control arms being relatively short). It was the 80 X car front suspension
- moved to the rear of the early Fieros that provided the engineering
challenge.
Lurk mode re-enabled.
John Carriere
Vehicle Dynamics Lab
GM
JACircuits Autocross Timing Systems
http://www.mich.com/~jacircts
- Timing the SCCA Solo II Nationals since 1985
***********
|