Why is active suspension banned?
07-12-2007, 01:45 AM
#1
Why is active suspension banned?
Hey guys, new guy here, a fellow racer at my club referred me here ...and I'm straight into the questions for this international forum 
Active suspension is outright banned in America, and it's at least banned in electric on-road racing in Europe I think. My question really is: why?
I assume that active suspension equiped cars have come out in the past which must have dominated racing, and that the average guy couldn't get his hands on it, which made competitions unfair. And so governing bodies made active suspension illegal.
Surely active suspension wasn't banned as a precaution against such a situation arising.
So, if there are any examples of active suspension equiped cars, it would be great if anyone could share. I'm interested in anything to do with active suspension for a possible university project/assignment I have to do.
Cheers for any help
Active suspension is outright banned in America, and it's at least banned in electric on-road racing in Europe I think. My question really is: why?
I assume that active suspension equiped cars have come out in the past which must have dominated racing, and that the average guy couldn't get his hands on it, which made competitions unfair. And so governing bodies made active suspension illegal.
Surely active suspension wasn't banned as a precaution against such a situation arising.
So, if there are any examples of active suspension equiped cars, it would be great if anyone could share. I'm interested in anything to do with active suspension for a possible university project/assignment I have to do.
Cheers for any help
07-12-2007, 03:24 AM
#2
My understnading is there are a few reasons, the biggest one was cost. Any such system would be fairly complex, and involve extra electornic/hydraulic trickery... and on the small scale we operate that = ££
Active suspesnion was originally designed to keep the ride heights of full scale race cars (F1, GTP's etc) level as a race progressed. This was due to the changing weight of the car (as it uses fuel, it gets lighter).
Now, this doesn't really apply to electric RC, as simple the weight doesn't change over a stint, and hence no change in ride height.
The other advantage of active suspension, was in that keeping the ride height consistent, the underbody aerodynamics (which contribute a large amount of the overal downforce) are more efficient on a full size car. Again, doesn't apply to RC, simply because the rules don't allow for underbodies to generate downforce...
Also, any such system is going to add weight. Now ask some guys who are struggling to get down to a weight limit with brushless if they want to add another 50g to there car for a system that probably won't improve their laptimes a huge amount.
HiH
Ed
Active suspesnion was originally designed to keep the ride heights of full scale race cars (F1, GTP's etc) level as a race progressed. This was due to the changing weight of the car (as it uses fuel, it gets lighter).
Now, this doesn't really apply to electric RC, as simple the weight doesn't change over a stint, and hence no change in ride height.
The other advantage of active suspension, was in that keeping the ride height consistent, the underbody aerodynamics (which contribute a large amount of the overal downforce) are more efficient on a full size car. Again, doesn't apply to RC, simply because the rules don't allow for underbodies to generate downforce...
Also, any such system is going to add weight. Now ask some guys who are struggling to get down to a weight limit with brushless if they want to add another 50g to there car for a system that probably won't improve their laptimes a huge amount.
HiH
Ed
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