Quote from tristancliffe :

But how do you KNOW the wheels were off the ground rather than the springs just nearly fully extended - it'll feel the same. Indeed it'll look the same.

Because you can FEEL when the tires hit the ground again. Not to mention that I took another pass and applied the brakes just as I left the hill and I clearly heard the front tires hit the ground and start screeching (if only for a moment before ABS kicked in.)

I don't know what else you want me to say. Hows this:

"I am ALMOST POSITIVE that I was off the ground, however, there is always a chance that I am wrong."

Will that make you happy? I know you are way older than me, and that you have WAY more driving experience than I do, but that doesn't negate the fact that I might, juuuust might, be a good enough driver to understand what is going on with my car sometimes

How do you know that isn't play in a bush, or the springs getting a bit loose on their platforms, or the bump rubbers kicking in, or some other knock. You cannot tell by feel along if your car leaves the road, and you cannot feel when the tyres touch the road again - only when the springs start to slow you down, which they'll do regardless of whether you were in the air or not.

If the tyres squealed then maybe the tyre was just unloaded, but not off the ground, or maybe one tyre was for a second 0.1mm off the road.

I am ALMOST POSITIVE that you were nowhere near going off the ground, however there is a chance I am wrong.

It's got nothing to do with being a good driver - the physical sensations of being in the air are exactly the same as being a bit unloaded over a hill. And had you taken off even slightly the slightest bit of yaw in the car would result in a big fishtailing moment, followed by a crash (probably). You haven't mentioned the sphincter-clenching moments afterwards, so I can only assume it tracks straight at all times.

Just for the record: the 'bump' is obviously not a 'speed bump'. It's as if there are 3 meters of the road that resisted the long-term, gradual sinking of the road, that took place everywhere else. So you have a 3-4 (?) meter long, around 20-30cm (?) high platform with quite abrupt edges, covering the whole width of the road.

The place is very well known in Warsaw. As pasibrzuch said, the ferrari accident is the third in the exact same place, caused by the same bump. It's hard to believe for me that the driver didn't know about it and still decided to go there fast (how fast exactly is disputable).

As for having the bump fixed, I'd say it's not a ridiculous idea, as some of you have written. If you go there 50km/h but on a sportsbike or in a car with stiff suspension, you could hurt your balls or back (depending on your vehicle ).

Quote from tristancliffe :

How do you know that isn't play in a bush, or the springs getting a bit loose on their platforms, or the bump rubbers kicking in, or some other knock. You cannot tell by feel along if your car leaves the road, and you cannot feel when the tyres touch the road again - only when the springs start to slow you down, which they'll do regardless of whether you were in the air or not.

If the tyres squealed then maybe the tyre was just unloaded, but not off the ground, or maybe one tyre was for a second 0.1mm off the road.

I am ALMOST POSITIVE that you were nowhere near going off the ground, however there is a chance I am wrong.

It's got nothing to do with being a good driver - the physical sensations of being in the air are exactly the same as being a bit unloaded over a hill. And had you taken off even slightly the slightest bit of yaw in the car would result in a big fishtailing moment, followed by a crash (probably). You haven't mentioned the sphincter-clenching moments afterwards, so I can only assume it tracks straight at all times.

I'm not going to exaggerate my story so that it sounds more realistic. The rear end did not come around. You have to remember that the car I'm driving is much heavier that cars over where you live - which means as long as I approach the "jump" straight-on, the car has very little tendency to be knocked off-center by any inconsistent surfaces. The back might not have even come off the ground - but the front was absolutely positively a few inches off the ground.

Take a look at this video. That's what I'm guessing was the result of the jump I did. I wasn't going quite that fast, but the "bump" was quite a few times bigger than that. It's not that difficult to get a car airborne when you have a soft suspension that tends to help push the car into the air.

Soft suspension has nothing to do with it, and even if it did, suspension (soft or otherwise) doesn't push a car into the air. Unsufficient droop travel means that the car body (which acts as a simple trajectory, so it would be quite easy to out the parabola the car took) pulls the wheels off the deck, but softer suspension usually comes with more droop.

If you know the droop travel your car has, the speed you were going and the angle of the ramp then we could work out whether you 'got air'. Assuming you have this information, would you be happy to put some money on it?

I'm almost thinking of going out there sometime this week and trying it out again with someone else filming it. Thing is - right at this moment I've got the car up on jacks in the garage as I'm replacing the left front fender because of that accident I had two months ago that I told you guys about.

Are you certain that a soft suspension wouldn't make the car more likely to get air? If a car has a soft suspension, it "loads up" as you hit the jump, and then "unloads" just before you leave the ground - acting like a springboard and pushing the car into the air.

It was quite a while ago that I did this - so I may be exaggerating - but I'm very curious to try it out again with someone outside and see. If I get the car back together and I feel like doing it - I'll bring someone along and get them to film it or something. How's that

im glad im not living in big town, no one have got ferrari what could get crashed. and theres other good thing, theres no speed bumps or cops(well, cops are on friday when everyone is drunken) who will give you something you should pay

Quote from Stang70Fastback :

I'm almost thinking of going out there sometime this week and trying it out again with someone else filming it. Thing is - right at this moment I've got the car up on jacks in the garage as I'm replacing the left front fender because of that accident I had two months ago that I told you guys about.

Are you certain that a soft suspension wouldn't make the car more likely to get air? If a car has a soft suspension, it "loads up" as you hit the jump, and then "unloads" just before you leave the ground - acting like a springboard and pushing the car into the air.

It was quite a while ago that I did this - so I may be exaggerating - but I'm very curious to try it out again with someone outside and see. If I get the car back together and I feel like doing it - I'll bring someone along and get them to film it or something. How's that

Quite certain. Harder suspension will absorb the same energy (with less travel) and return it just as much. The dampers are designed to control the wheel (and body) with that spring rate. If anything the lower spring rate will allow the body to take a smoother arc up the ramp (or down it) than hard suspension.

If you film it, then great. Do be careful though, as there are lots of Youtube accidents of people jumping and killing themselves. Personally I'd go for the numerical 'at a desk' analysis every time

Yikes.. shame about the Ferrari, and terrible for the friend.

Hint to all Ferrari drivers out there, you cannot knock over a concrete pillar, even if you're travelling in excess of 200 km/h

Quote from tristancliffe :

Quite certain. Harder suspension will absorb the same energy (with less travel) and return it just as much. The dampers are designed to control the wheel (and body) with that spring rate. If anything the lower spring rate will allow the body to take a smoother arc up the ramp (or down it) than hard suspension.

If you film it, then great. Do be careful though, as there are lots of Youtube accidents of people jumping and killing themselves. Personally I'd go for the numerical 'at a desk' analysis every time

True.

Yeah - I'm not about to total my car. We'll have to see how the road is. It changes all the time. It's dirt that leads up to the bridge - and it's constantly flooded so there are always potholes forming all over the place. Thing is though, like I said, you don't have to be going terribly fast. At the very least I'll take a couple pictures of the actual incline and such and we can do that number crunching

I won't be able to get over there until later this week, though, if I do.