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Re: [Spridgets] Rear sway bar Pt 1A

To: Spridgets <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: [Spridgets] Rear sway bar Pt 1A
From: Ron Soave <soavero@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:26:13 -0700 (PDT)
2 parts were too big, so...Pt 1A; 1B to follow. Pt 2 already hit list:

--- On Sun, 10/12/08, David Lieb <dbl@chicagolandmgclub.com> wrote:
> Spridget, I would look
> for an 11/16" front sway and leave it at that. If I
> were building a racing
> Spridget, I would look at what the Thickos are doing and
> plagiarize.

Not geeting thru - breaking into 2:

No rear swaybar for me. Here's something I posted a long time ago in response 
to some genius who welded everything in sight to his rear suspension. I was in 
my Van Valkenburgh period. I barely understand what I wrote at anymore, so I 
can't defend it ;-):
-------------
The rear stability and geometry has a tremendous
effect on the handling and "steering". Your comment
about keeping the tires firmly planted is spot on, but
a lot goes into that. Think of going through a
carousel-like turn, throttle on, and you lift. The
rear end gets totally unloaded, and you spin. Things
are loading, unloading, springs are winding and
unwinding, things are bending and he car is rolling
about its polar moment. Think about going into a
turn, you don't brake at all, the front end wants to
plow because the weight is on the rear tires. If you
give a quick stab of the brakes (BEFORE YOU TURN,
please!), you put weight on the front tires, settle
the suspension, unload the rear, and point the front
where it wants to go. You can modulate the throttle to
bring the rear around and accelerate through the turn.
The geometry of the rear, including the roll center
(and there is a roll center for pretty much every body
linked by two points), will determine where the
suspension is vs. where the car wants to go (vs. where
you want to go). Your photo shows a combo
watts/panhard/anti-tramp setup with a high mounting
point. The primary role of a panhard rod is
transverse axle location, plus a little bit more in
setting the roll center. The Sprite, as you've
implied, has little to nothing to stop transverse
movement of the rear axle assembly from moving
laterally under cornering forces. We have the
additional handicap in a Sprite (not as bad with our
1/4 elliptical cars) of the leaf springs
twisting/loading and then rapidly unloading, adding to
our driving excitement along the way. The panhard
mitigates this significantly.

1B to follow
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