Keith;
As drivers, we all try to keep the car pointed in a straight line (more or
less) but that requires constant little steering corrections to go straight.
If these corrections are truly minute, not much is required of the
suspension as far as handling is concerned but given the effects of a little
wind or a moderate course correction, this generates a small (hopefully)
lateral G force and that's when you're in the road-racing realm-- not just
when you've gone off-course or done a 360. The greater the lateral G force,
the better your suspension geometry needs to be.
Was it Jimmy Clark or maybe Graham Hill who did a 360 in an Indy race years
ago? He didn't miss a beat and kept on going like nothing happened. I
thought the radio announcer was going to have a heart attack describing his
"miraculous" achievement. Maybe in those old roadsters in USAC racing it was
unprecedented but in GP & sports car racing it just wasn't that unusual. The
moral to that story is that if you have a good-handling car, driving skill,
and luck, a recovery is possible but not always without drama.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Turk [mailto:kturk@ala.net]
Sent: Monday, October 13, 2003 10:43 AM
To: 'LSR List'
Subject: Re: Suspension
Once it's deviated to any degree the run is over... now it's a matter of
controlling the car until it's off the course... Same thing if the motor
isn't perfect... generally speaking things don't get better with speed...
That having been said how much do I care what lateral G loading the car can
tolerate and still accelerate.... honestly I don't... what I care about is
what happens when the car hits a pot hole or soft spot in the salt.... how
does the tire and suspension react in a straight line and does the movement
of the suspension steer the car at all?
So much of the drag racing technology focus's on Launching a vehicle and the
dynamics associated with acceleration of mass from a stand still....
again....once the car is underway all of those force vectors may not be what
we are looking for in top speed performance...
Neil I think there is something to the unsprung weight issue thou and it's
something worth looking into further....
Keith ( I've had more lateral G's then forward a couple of times and shut it
down Everytime.... trust me it's ugly stuff... )
|