Originally Posted by
Dave23
The weight transferred by a car is to do with the height of the centre of gravity of the car and the roll centre heights. The centre mass of the battery is going to be at the same height as in the 103 and the 201, because the pack sits on the lower deck, and therefore the amount of weight transfer and roll should be the same, despite the fact that the pack is not hanging out the sides of the chassis.
Straight line stability should be better- longer, narrower cars tend to be much happier in straight lines. I don't think the width change is going to affect this car that much, in fact, I believe it could improve it's ultimate cornering power; the weight rolling around the roll centres is going to put more load on the tyres than the 103 because the amount of weight transfer is the same, and the weight is not going to be sent as far out.
Yes it has to do with the height of the COG and the roll centers...but weight and where that weight is placed also play a large part of that. Think of the battery like the age old physics experiment of 2 bars of equal mass but different lengths...Hold each in the center and try to spin them, the shorter one is the easiest to spin. Now think of the battery like these bars, A battery crosswise on the chassis is going to be harder to get to roll, but once it rolls it is harder to stop, while a battery in-line will be easier to roll but also easier to stop.