NL_Fer wrote:TwanV wrote:Never quite understood what can be held against active suspension in the first place... no safety issues, driver importance doesn't deteriorate.. Very relevant to road cars in terms of comfort and safety.. The only thing I can think of is that back in 93 the software/hardware development costs for such a system were very high, and the gap between the top 3 and the rest was getting too noticable. But nowadays the 'have-nots' are much more professional. Anyway, fantastic that Mercedes applies a seemingly mechanical version of the system.
My opinion: let's hope the system stays legal before a ban puts in further requirement of resources again to circumvent a silly rule.
From what i remember, active suspension allowed incredible low rideheight. When a bump or driversfault would increase the rideheight, the downforce would instantly be neutralized and we could be seeing flying cars or cars making a backwards salto.
Well.. that's quite a far-fetched scenario
Anyway we have the plank-rule for that since 94. I did some further reading and apparently:
Active suspension back then was pre-programmed for a track, which is somewhat artifical.
A cap on cornering speeds was desirable
The mechanics were not too happy about working on a prototype hydraulic system at 130+ bar. (probably a bit more since my citroen-system rates at 170 bar already)
But mind you, that was more than 20 years ago. These days mechanics seem to be perfectly happy working on high-voltage systems even, so no, still nothing substantial I can think of why it should still be banned.
Sorry, a little OT, perhaps this could have a dedicated topic.