morcheeba
05-01-2002, 10:43 PM
Jim Hall (http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/3098/chaprral.htm) had some cool innovations. My favorite was the "sucker-car". It had two snowmobile engines that literally created a vacum under the car and stuck it to the road. It was quikly outlawed for racing, but would be street legal (albiet a bit noisy!!)
Another cool design was active aerodynamics -- something a bit more applicable to this forum. He originally had a big spoiler that could be manually adjusted while racing. Put it up for more downforce+traction/more drag during cornering, and down for less downforce/less drag on the straightaways.
Here's my idea: The 330i has an incredible traction system (one reason I want to upgrade from my E30), and it's capable of individually braking each wheel when it loses traction. Why not, instead of braking the wheel, automatically activate a spoiler? It would re-connect the wheel to the road and (when the stability control fixes a spin) have the same effect as braking the wheel.
Ideally, I'd like to see 4 spoilers - one above each wheel. During normal driving and at low speeds (where they would be ineffective), the spoilers would be flush with the body. When extra traction is needed, they'd quickly pop up and add extra pressure to the appropriate wheel. If you want to get fancy, you could figure out a way to press directly on the unsprung portion of the suspension (the trick being to do this only during use). Sure, the spoilers should be relatively big to be effective, but since they are streamlined with the body, they won't affect the looks or the drag of the car.
For the not so daring, there's a simpler way-- have a large variable angle spoiler on the rear that deploys when either rear wheel slips. Not as effective, but simpler to design/install.
As for detecting traction loss, the 330i has that nice triangle on the dashboard - it could be connected to the actuators. Or, there is probably an electrical feed off the brake actuator that could be tapped.
So, what do you guys think? It would be a tough mod, but I think it could work great! Of course, I could be totally wrong, too.
Another cool design was active aerodynamics -- something a bit more applicable to this forum. He originally had a big spoiler that could be manually adjusted while racing. Put it up for more downforce+traction/more drag during cornering, and down for less downforce/less drag on the straightaways.
Here's my idea: The 330i has an incredible traction system (one reason I want to upgrade from my E30), and it's capable of individually braking each wheel when it loses traction. Why not, instead of braking the wheel, automatically activate a spoiler? It would re-connect the wheel to the road and (when the stability control fixes a spin) have the same effect as braking the wheel.
Ideally, I'd like to see 4 spoilers - one above each wheel. During normal driving and at low speeds (where they would be ineffective), the spoilers would be flush with the body. When extra traction is needed, they'd quickly pop up and add extra pressure to the appropriate wheel. If you want to get fancy, you could figure out a way to press directly on the unsprung portion of the suspension (the trick being to do this only during use). Sure, the spoilers should be relatively big to be effective, but since they are streamlined with the body, they won't affect the looks or the drag of the car.
For the not so daring, there's a simpler way-- have a large variable angle spoiler on the rear that deploys when either rear wheel slips. Not as effective, but simpler to design/install.
As for detecting traction loss, the 330i has that nice triangle on the dashboard - it could be connected to the actuators. Or, there is probably an electrical feed off the brake actuator that could be tapped.
So, what do you guys think? It would be a tough mod, but I think it could work great! Of course, I could be totally wrong, too.