Still think modern sportscars are safe and not prone to blowovers?

[wrcsti]

This would work like the cannards in the Hydroplane boats, except they are controlled by the driver, theese are controlled by computer.
You can also mess around with a difusser that when pointing the wrong way will open chambers ment to move the high pressure air to the top of the car or off the sides real quick.

 

[Venari]

Nice pics. Unfortunately, the problem with more computers and using them to actively change aero and suspension all the time is that you're taking the skill of the driver away, allowing him to go faster than his talent. By keeping the cars simpler, he is a more important part. My ideas are more biased to only use suspension and aero when the car starts to get outside a predetermined 'safe zone' (say, 2deg nose-up angle-of-attack, frotn suspension at full jrebound.) Drivers should be going flat out anyway, it is 'fault conditions' (such as a sidesweep into a kerb, or hitting a ridge awkwardly) that would kick off the active side when the car does something unexpected. And I supposed that means also it shouldn't save the car perfectly, it should stop the driver from just driving outside their talent all of the time knowing the car will help out the really bad stuff... give them a spin instead of a flip... but then, how safe is that!?!

Re the ACO ideas, well... I fail to see how reducing cornering speeds will stop a 200mph flip.

How about 'not going at 200mph' for that one.

"But what about when cars hit bumps!"

How about 'weighing more than two tenths of chuff all', and/or something a bit more technical like setting specific sprung wheel rating limits, and minimum remaining suspension travels at a steady state loading directly above the CofG of (say) 100kg/m² of plan area. That would mean that suspension designs that work over a much greater travel would become more critical, and the aero package design compromise would become self-limiting (can't have too much downforce - you'd flatten the suspension onto the stops) and they would probably become more comfortable to drive. These restrictions would effectively close the gap between prototypes with their wild shapes, and the self-limiting basic designs of road cars, which have these compromises in their basic structure (because their aero and geometry is designed to provide a good road car of twice the weight.)

I don't remember 962s and Jags having quite this much trouble, but then they weighed a good 200kgs more dry, I imagine.

Reducing cornering speeds by reducing aero is contrived. Alternatively, just put them on road tyres... that'll give the tyre companies and suspension designers something to have fun with.


Perhaps we should just give tham all a bunch of Cobra replicas, give them a parachute to wear and put a big spike on the steering wheel.

 

[Mt. Lynx]

cobras...
I kind of frowned when I read the ACO proposal aswell. I honestly believe they are on the wrong path.

I have actually thought of the concept of roadtyres aswell, but couldn´t they have a sort of monotyre instead. An allround tyre if you will, that has to cope with all conditions they might encounter on track?

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Venari's earlier analysis seemed more aimed at cars taking off whilst still pointing in the direction of travel, a la CLK-GTR. The current breed of cars are becoming airborne while going sideways. In fact, the cars are all rolling away from the direction of travel.

No aero device that works with longitudinal airflow is going to help with that.

 

[superberkut]

This would work like the canards in the Hydroplane boats, except they are controlled by the driver, these are controlled by computer.
You can also mess around with a diffuser that when pointing the wrong way will open chambers ment to move the high pressure air to the top of the car or off the sides real quick.

That is a good concept, but I question its reliability for 24 hours when exposed so close to the road surface.

How about 'not going at 200mph' for that one.

That is the point of Daytona sportscars...

As for the previous post, that is true as well, along with the problem of, 'dirty air', which caused a Mercedes to invert itself during the 1999 race. If I recall, F1 cars have the same problem, but they tend not to go flat-out at 320km/h+. The past cars still had problems, but it is interesting to note that only one car to flip during 1999, a BMW, was a LMP. It was at first mainly the poor calculations of the Mercedes engineers that jeopardized the entire species.