No, they're not. But they are at least a mechanical solution over which the driver has complete control. Active suspension is sufficiently capable of reducing the driver ability required to drive the car quickly, yet doesn't improve the spectacle or the image of the sport.
And if everyone has it then motorsport simply becomes even more of a war between laptop fiddling people than it already is - and nobody surely wants to see that?
Agreed. I was thinking more of road/off-road cars though. Basic mechanical systems are good for racing, although it's racing that spurs development so maybe just one series should be allowed to use them.
So typical. Whenever seems that someone might actually be smarter than one is, that someone should be insulted, humiliated and basically squashed. So typical.
When someone talks to you about legitimate theories that are very widely applied, the last thing you should do is stoop to the level of insulting him or her with "rude parts of the human anatomy" as someone here puts it.
Being a Biomedical Engineer, the ability to appreciate and understand an amazing feat of engineering known as the human body is a must. To this day, engineering has yet to fully replicate the abilities of just single limbs. It saddens me every day that perfectly important body parts are used to insult people these days even when we're supposed to be living in a much more enlightened era than say, the Victorian age?
To say that a performance programmed active suspension relieves the need to possess great skill to get the most out of a car is like saying that current spring/damper suspensions should be banned because they allow cars to perform too well over go-karts. Pure insanity. And we're getting this from a guy who does not push cars to their absolute edge and appreciate how hard it is to do that consistently for any car. It is this ban everything attitude that will eventually render motor sports so irrelevant that it'll be banned for good. Stop hiding under a rock, if only people have any real idea what kind of powers are working in this world.
I can understand though, he lives in a harsh neighbourhood with fearsome potholes, I mean if I have to face such harshness I would go slightly mad as well.
In reality, Biomedical Engineering requires mastery of not just a few, but many forms of engineering. Our chief skills are electrical and computer systems engineering, but we don't get very far without being quite good at mechanical engineering, which incidentally is fundamental to automotive engineering as well. In reality, automotive engineering requires all sorts of disciplines from just mechanical to electrical to chemical and even biomedical. Like it or not, we have a lot to do with making cars safer and ergonomic (think "quality crash test dummies" created with our understanding of biomechanics). Disasters usually happens when our advice is ignored.
I happen to know quite a bit about cars both due to my mechanical background and also due to the fact that I'm quite a serious car enthusiast. And I still fondly remember someone here mentioning quite a while ago that some so-called racecar suspension engineers can't figure out the high speed settings of 4-way dampers common to top end motorsports these days. Talk about ever declining standards. It is no secret that engineering is facing a serious skills crisis.
this thread is my laugh for the day, a guy that works on body parts telling someone that works on cars and racecars about the different components...
For my [art in this thread I was only trying to be funny...just probably a bit agressive about it.
dustin...you can stop now
Sorry, this community will take Tristans and Ajp's comments over yours anyday. If there is so much supporting evidence for these theories, post up some links please to back you 'facts'.
With braking temps, when brakes can reach over 1000f how is 10-20 degrees going to cause serious differences in brake performance?
If nothing else Tristan and Ajp get their giggles for the day I know I am.
You must have some facts to back this claim up.. Was there a poll of some sort, or where does this information come from?
People shouldn't just take someones opinions and comments as the absolute truth. The reader should have enough understanding of the matter and enough time to digest the things he reads, hears etc. Enough understanding of the matter to call BS when it's needed. Enough understanding to see someone might have a valid point.
I'm not saying if in my opinion anyone's right or wrong - engineering is a wide field but what's in common is the laws of physics - mechanical systems like cars aren't that complex, similar subsystems can be found from quite a variety of machinery.
When he has multiple cases of taking an unusual view without backing it up in any way and then just spouting nonsense and telling everybody they're wrong.
If you're complaining that Tristan is smarter than you: Yes he is, get over it.
Randomly copying and pasting irrelevant theories is... irrelevant.
Biomedical engineering has absolutely no relevance to car braking systems.
We're getting this from a guy who has been on the top step of the podium, got fastest laps and had the odd spin. It is a pretty cheap insult from somebody who reckons the public road is a good testing ground to prove some nonsense about tires and brakes that he has decided to make up, have you ever even been on a track?
in a real car you can feel the brake and push the pedal according to that feeling. as most people in lfs do not have a pedal which is close to what is in a car, i do not see any use of being realistic about something which is not realistic by default
Oh sorry, I had no idea that people who can't even understand servo control (which is relevant from everything such as control by wire to too many to mention) is smarter than me.
Oh dear. Next thing I know everyone INSISTS that someone who fails algebra is smarter than me.
I had no idea that views that are based on physical/mathematical understanding, practical experience and serious thought are actually unusual. Next thing I know, to oppose racism is abnormal. Oh dear.
No you don't need to have an automotive eng degree to know cars. just lots of understanding of engineering theory, practical experience and lots of learning from reputable sources (such as SAE, IEEE, etc.). Simply working as an engineer these days might mean diddly squat, since anyone can be a monkey working for a small number of engineers that actually know what they're doing. In RL engineering practice, there are all sorts of people like every other field. There are some that take credit for other's work, others that DO work but are nothing more than grunts and there are those who REALLY know and work their stuff but still end up with jack s**t. Only a TINY number of people actually get what they really deserve, and that's life.
What I find so shocking these days is that people aren't really that good (if any good) at what they're supposed to specialize in at all. And to be told that I am of inferior intellect because I actually bother to think about, investigate, learn and understand stuff to what some my say are hardcore levels of depth? Insanity.
:ices_rofl just stumbled upon this thread. I think I may throw in random facts and figures too, that's sure to make me look smart. Oh wait, I don't understand servo control and Laplace transforms, I must be a total idiot...Seriously man, grow up
You can spout random meaningless equations 'till the cows come home, but someone who actually races, and understands the way the cars work (without needing to draw out graphs and charts for it) first hand will best you in every argument. (That person is not me BTW, it's Tristan :rolleyes
Do a quick google on his name, you'll see that he isn't "a monkey working for a small number of engineers that actually know what they're doing" ...And you said you did your research
I can't believe this thread is still going on like a broken record.
OK jamexhit, you are a genius who knows everything. Whoop de doo. Now go pester some equally super inteligent beings in your vicinity. Leave this forum to us idiots, please.
:feedtroll:
Oh BTW. My dad can do laplace transforms in his sleep and he has majored in math and physics and computer scienses in the university and all that so he is smarter than you.
Then of course the Laplace transforms can be used to predict the distance required to travel while applying these tin-lard brakes for the temperature to reach that required for optimum cooking of an egg on them.
I know I am.
...And you said you did your research 
Go team...us!