[Land-speed] A Protocol Question...

Elon saltfever at comcast.net
Fri Apr 25 20:20:57 MDT 2008


Hi Jon.  Think of the lower tire radius as a lever arm. It's the lever arm
(and its length) that does all the work to move the car forward. That length
of the arm also affects the overall gear ratio. And you know gear ratio is
directly coupled to revs per mile. Think of a top fuel car and the wheel
growth at speed. As the tires grows in height the lever arm increases in
length. You might say tire growth is an infinitely variable ratio. Maybe
this is a poor example, but how about a track-laying Caterpillar tractor?
The ratios and revs per distance is controlled by the diameter (or radius)
of the sprocket and not the length of the track. Your tires footprint
(squat) is a semi-type of track layer, no?  -Elon



while the radius on the bottom half is smaller than that of the top, when
loaded

-- I don't understand how that would change the circumference.  That

is, the distance all the way around the tire does not change -- all of

the rubber must still roll down the road, even if the axle gets closer

to the ground.

      Jon Wennerberg

Tall guy with moustache

and a pair of 2 Club hats


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