Inertia...if the vehicle is traveling at any speed then the suspension
cannot react quick enough to return the wheel/tire assembly to the salt
after hitting a bump or flying over a hole. Just not quick enough. Will
always have some skips and of course, wheel spin at those places...
mayf
----- Original Message -----
From: "rtmack" <RTMACK@pop3.concentric.net>
To: "Louise Ann Noeth" <lanoeth@earthlink.net>
Cc: "Landspeed" <land-speed@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2001 5:39 PM
Subject: Re: TC thought
> Geez, Louise, that's the most interesting technical question on the list
right
> now!
>
> (Our friends in the 77 car being one prominent exception), I think
suspension in
> general is way underutilized by cars in the 250mph-plus category. Yeah, I
know--
> it's just one more set of variables to have to deal with. But my
inspection of
> the course after Speed Week indicated that many of the vehicles were
loosing
> traction at the expansion crack "dips", because their wheels were loosing
contact
> with the surface. The "starting line" side of the "dip" would show tire
tracks
> that appeared to be laboring somewhat successfully-- then there would be a
few
> feet where the tracks would dissappear (the tires apparently flying over
the
> dip!)-- then they would appear again on the other side of the crack,
really
> tearing up the salt (spinning, I feel sure!) It would be nice if we could
keep
> the tires in better contact. Suspension is an obvious consideration.
>
> As for "active" suspension-- all the reading that I have done on it
indicates that
> the purpose is to keep the ride height (distance between the belly and the
ground)
> in as narrow a distance range as possible-- and the vehicle level
(horizontal)
> from side-to-side. In other words-- a wheel can deflect (or rebound) a
couple of
> inches, but the sill & belly remain 1.55" (or whatever) from the ground.
This is
> important to the road racers because they use "ground effects"-- the flow
of air
> under the car creates a suction that helps them get those incredible
cornering
> speeds. And the "ground effects" are extremely sensitive to the height of
the
> belly/sill above the racing surface.
>
> So my feeling is-- if any LSR builder decides it might be an advantage to
create
> (all, or part-of) the tire loading from ground effects, then for sure
active
> suspension would be worth a consider. Heck of a development project, I
would
> think.
>
> I think Pork Pie is over-estimating the magnitude of the problem (caused
by the
> "undulations") for TC. Dave Dahlgren and I have both explained ways to
address
> that in other responses to this thread. Suspension is, I believe,
unnecessary for
> a successfully-functioning LSR TC.
>
> Interesting idea, though!
>
> Russ Mack
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