Joe and John, > But all this got me to thinking . . I know the whole "lighter but larger" > cars being safer turned the conventional assumptions on their head. > However, in a somewhat different line of thinking, how does lightening the > car affect traction?
You can have a problem. That's why the suspension must be designed to compensate. For cornering, cut the roll rate and keep the tire treads flat on the pavement. The reduced weight, itself, will remove some of the inertia moment vectoring outward when in a high speed corner and reduce the roll rate. > Assuming no changes to the tires, does making a car lighter improve > overall > traction and handling, or worsen it? Improves cornering traction by removing weight from the center of gravity. Has a similar effect to lowering the center of gravity. Weight is usually an enemy when it involves cornering and cornering traction. > I was thinking that being lighter > might make traction worse simply because there's less downward force on > the > tires. That's for straightline traction, like at the drag strip. The way to cure that problem is design the suspension system to raise upward when the drivetrain is torqued. As Newton stated, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." When the body rises on the suspension when torque is applied, the reverse of the body weight is shoved down into the tires, particularly the rear tires. That makes the rear tires stick, spin less, and keep the front tires reasonably on the ground so the driver can steer. Wheelstands do not win races. Cars that keep their front end down win races. A large amount of power is wasted during a wheelstand, power that could move the car down the track much, much quicker. > But on the other hand . . a heavier car has more inertia. Wouldn't that > adversely affect handling? Absolutely. Heavy cars slide off highways in the rain, snow, and ice, especially when the driver has no clue how to drive that car. > How does real-world physics work in this regard? Mass always wins, but sometimes that win is a crash. Milton Schick 1964 442 Cutlass [EMAIL PROTECTED]
