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Originally Posted by graham bahr
the real problem here is a dual purpose car, the competition and roadgoing requirements conflict, and the car will never be as good at either as it could be.
you cannot use roll bars to effectively replace stiff springs, roll bars are best at fine tuning
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I'm not sure I agree.
On our car about 50% of the roll resistance is via the springs and 50% via the anti roll bars. Therefore, if we disconnect the bars but wish to have the same level on antiroll stiffness, and to maintain the same from/rear weight transfer balance, we have to increase the front spring rates by 233% and the rear spring rates by 200%.
This changes the wheel frequencies to 193 cpm front/187 cpm rear.
With wheel frequencies this high the tyres give less grip when accelerating, braking, touching kerbs or rumble strips and in bumpy corners - problems which are eliminated by lower wheel frequencies. We find, therefore, that anti roll bars are the best way to increase roll stiffness without compromising the job that the springs primarily have to do.
Of course, such an approach is ideal for a dual purpose car. Stiffer bars can be fitted for racing and removed or disconnected for road use, or correctly designed adjustable anti roll bars would allow for soft settings on the road and firmer on the track.