Active Suspension - Wet Weather - Dry Setup

[Niall]

I have been tinckering around with this idea in my head for the last few days.

Obviously Active Suspension has left F1 for nearly 8 years now but it is still being used in Sports Cars. Most famously in the Road Version of the Mercedes CLK.

But anyway. Could the onboard computer which runs the Active Suspension be preprogrammed so that if it were raining that the suspension settings could be radically changed at the touch of a button. I know that the active suspesnion system was only used for slight differences to adjust ride height and spring settings by minute fractions in mid race, but could it be used to adjust them to raise ride height by inches and other neseccary changes to change it from a dry to a wet weather set up ?

Niall

[THR]

yea

im not sure if they did it tho.

im fairly sure i read somewhere that the springs in active are only there to psyhically hold the car up when its turned off.

the active dampers take care of all the springing.

[Stealth]

It is true that the springs on the old f-1 with active suspensions are just for idle support. During dynamic loading, almost all the movements are controlled by hydralic means.

I am also 99% positive that they can pre-program a wet and dry setup in the controller, thus allowing the driver to change the setup during the race.

I also read somewhere that the computer can tell where the car is on the track by interpolating the steering input and via wheelspeed sensors, thus allowing the suspension to almost anticipate the rough or smooth sections of the track.

As a sidenote, I am currently studing under a ME Professor in California named Dean Karnopp. He is a pioneer in active suspension theory and applications. In case you guys are bored, look him up.

[twin 40's]

I read an interview a while back with one of the Lotus F1 driver (Brundle i think) on when they had all the electronics. He said that at one race he was sitting on teh grip and then suddenly one of his front wheels started bouncing up and down like a bouncy ball.

He said that the other three corners counter-acted it so well that his car went like a rocket and he got his fastest ever lap around that track...

[Marco94]

twin 40's,

If that is true, it's no wonder that Lotus disappeared. There is *no* way that you can set a fastest lap time with such a problem. It can't have been Brundle either, he has never driven for Team Lotus. I think you are refering to Johnny Herbert. He had a problem with an oscillating rear wheel in Spain or Portugal in the early 1990's.

Stealth,

Already freaked out with bondgraphs?

Niall,

Are you not mistaken with the Mercedes-Benz CL? You can buy those with ABC (Active Body Control), a system which moves the mounting point of the spring relative to the chassis. A glorified ride height control really. And very uncomfortable as well. The spring needs to be comparatively stiff to obtain a decent bandwidth. And as a result rattles your teeth.

[matje]

At least the Citroen Activa is really active, I think. Has hydralic rams etc.

mat