[alfa] Sprung/unsprung weight

["John Fielding" <johnf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

The simplistic idea of unsprung and sprung weight is too easy.  Many years ago
Len Terry - the designer of many of the early Lotus GP cars - twigged to the
subleties of using the tyres to perform part of the springing.  So it is not
correct to say that a wheel/tyre combination is completely unsprung, the
factor depends on the compliance of the tyre sidewalls.

If you consider the very limited suspension travel now being used on todays F1
cars, and look closely at the slow motion shots of cars riding the kerbs, you
will see that most of the springing is performed by the tyres and very little
is done by the traditional suspension.

my 2c worth

John
Durban
South Africa
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