Can anyone explain why FIA banned Chapman genial idea of "double chassis", with aero-part linked and pushing directly to unsprung masses? I read it was a solution to get extreme loads of downforce without the need of running extra stiff suspension set-up.
Banning was for some safety issue or to limit cornering speed?
And can anyone explain this striking design in-depth?
I think it was something to do with the car being run so low that despite the extra chassis it had the potential to cause really serious back injusr to drivers.
Murphy's 9th Law of Technology:
Tell a man there are 300 million stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch to be sure.
The double chassis was a ploy to get around the FISA ban on sliding skirts. As wing cars needed to keep a permenent seal between the car and ground, there either needed to be a flexible seal to accommodate suspension movement or no suspension movement! Colin Chapman got around the ban on sliding skitrts and moveable aero by defining the bodywork forming the tunnels as a secodn chassis, the rule book did not say how many chassis you could to have. Thus the primary chassis held the driver, monocoque and engine\gearbox, whoile the secodn chassis was the external bodywork, joined to the suspension by springs. This allowed the primary chassis to be softly sprung and the aerodynamics would keep a good seal to the ground.
Ground effects had caught the authorities out, they did not act quickly enough to slow the cars. Also at the time the british teams were running rings around the rules with purposely obtuse interpretations of the rules (Fan car, water coolign etc).
