Wow is this the sway bar??

[fastback33]

It kind of seems odd to me how the suspension would be able to compress at an equal level for both sides.... anyone got a diagram?

Btw, the car is radical SR9.

[DaveKillens]

See that little dark rod poking up out of the chassis and ending in a square shape, so that it can be secured firmly to the aluminum cross-bar? If it can rotate like a torsion bar, it can resist uneven loading. If it can flex back and forward, it will be able to handle bumps. The properties of the rod can determine the level of resistance.

[joseff]

I'm with Dave, the black rod looks like a combo anti-roll/3rd spring.

[MrT]

It's quite a standard T-bar set up. In Bump both rockers will move in the same direction so the t bar pivots at it's base (which is inside the tub) and adds no resistance. When the car rolls the rockers move in opposite directions inducing a torque on the black torsion bar you can see go down into the tub. This torque is resisted by the torsion bar and therefore reduces roll. The longer the torsion bar the less resistance, the thinner the torsion bar the less resistance, the longer the t arms the less resistance etc etc.

Speaking generally it actually kind of acts in the opposite way to a third spring. Third springs come in only in bump to resist aero loads, and don't contribute to roll stiffness , where an anti roll bar only affects roll resistance not bump.

[fastback33]

Is this illegal in f1 or have there been teams to utilize it?

[MrT]

I'm sure it's been used in f1 at sometime or other.... It's certainly not illegal (haven;t looked at the rules but i can;t see how it could be). As i said f1 teams run three springs which doesn't require a sway bar as the roll resistance is tuned with two of the springs....

Its certainly not a revlutionary design, I have seen this type of sway bar on many many single seaters.... I think Formula BMW run them but may be mistaken.

Here is a picture of the sort of set up your talking about.

<img src=http://www.galmerinc.com/images/front_susp_cropped.jpg alt="Front" />

Mr T

[joseff]

That's really cool MrT, thanks.

[fastback33]

I'm sure it's been used in f1 at sometime or other.... It's certainly not illegal (haven;t looked at the rules but i can;t see how it could be). As i said f1 teams run three springs which doesn't require a sway bar as the roll resistance is tuned with two of the springs....

Its certainly not a revlutionary design, I have seen this type of sway bar on many many single seaters.... I think Formula BMW run them but may be mistaken.

Here is a picture of the sort of set up your talking about.

<img src=http://www.galmerinc.com/images/front_susp_cropped.jpg alt="Front" />

Mr T

Any chance you have a bigger picture??

[MrT]

You can see it again in this picture..... I don;t have a larger version of the last one though.... hope this helps.

<img src=http://www.hagermanracengineering.com/i ... ension.jpg alt="Front suspension2" />

[fastback33]

It does thank you!

[ginsu]

I'm sure it's been used in f1 at sometime or other.... It's certainly not illegal (haven;t looked at the rules but i can;t see how it could be). As i said f1 teams run three springs which doesn't require a sway bar as the roll resistance is tuned with two of the springs....

They run a third spring w/ a swaybar too! Here's a pick of the R26







Also, it looks like this car has Anti-Ackerman steering. I wondered if single seaters ran Anti-Ackerman as you can always see the inside wheel turning more in F1 races.

[/img]

[MrT]

Some single seaters do run anti-ackerman (Anti Ackerman is where the outside wheel turns MORE than the inside wheel) this is usually induced to work the outside tyre, f1 cars visibly run this at some circuits...

The car in the picture to me looks like it is running rougthly 100% ackerman (inside wheel steer matches inside corner radius, outside wheel steer matches outside corner radius), although its hard to tell from the picture.... certainly doin;t think its anti ackerman..