Quote:
Originally posted by Zammo
Whoa dude OK lets narrow it a little and ask something specific
id say chassis costruction should be
monocoque carbonfibre/titainium composite (or alluminium for reduced costs)
drag and downforce go hand in hand u cant have DF without drag
so adjustable front airdam and rear wing would give u a balance
Hmmmm cameras well im not sure on this but in car TV systems are not
allowed to function while the vehicle moves (In Aus anyway) and navigation isn't either I think (noy sure)
but ive heard of cars that use cams in USA so ????
to keep the cam system simple store all the hardware in one location and use optical fibre to send the image
for that matter i wonder if its practical (i a sense) to use optical fibre through out the car instead of copper this would save waight providing the acconpanying electrics dont outway the copper wire equivalent.
Brakes once again carbon fibre 18inch Discs with Dual 6-8 piston calipers
horizontally opposed Flat 12 quad cam quad turbo
through a single gear variable speed Gbox (not sure of the technical name) all wheel hydraulic drive.
that ll do 4 now
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The chassis should definitely be of a aluminum honeycomb-reinforced carbon fiber laminate moncoque type. Body panels also.
Carbon fiber brake discs would be completely out of the question for street use. Maybe if you were to clamp the pads on the discs constantly to maintain operating temperature. However, it might be nice to use carbon fiber-reinforced silicon carbide brake discs. About the lightest material next to aluminum, but distortion and wear are negligible.
With dual calipers, brake fade would be a concern, I would think.
Flat and horizontally opposed mean the same thing. A flat 12 would pretty much have no benefit except for lower center of gravity. Intake/exhaust piping and general space concerns would probably null that idea. Quad cam, fine. DOHC is a must. You might want a 5-valve head - but Ferrari's F1 cars switched back to 4-valve, so...
Bad ideas for transmission. A continuously-variable transmission would NO chance at handling the torque I'm expecting the engine to provide. An electrohydraulically-actuated manual transmission would probably be for the best, for both experienced and newbie drivers.
How about a titanium flywheel /w CF-reinforced SiC friction plate? Center-sprung titanium clutch /w said friction material? Titanium carbonitrided maraging steel gears? (come to think of it, TiCN EVERY metal that encounters friction
) Carbon fiber drive/halfshafts?
All wheel drive, while good for harsh weather and terrain, don't offer much for dry use, where one would expect a car like this to be used. You can get neutral steer, yes, but you can dial that in with suspension settings, but I think many prefer a tad of oversteer. Good AWD systems generally weigh a lot. Viscous-coupled front wheels will only get torque if the rears spin faster than the front wheels, and even then, the compensation won't be instantaneous. A good setup might consist of a clutch-based LS center differential, and Torsen differentials front and rear - a tad heavy, though.
If you choose to go the way of the Torsen diffs, put in a computer system that engages the brakes (did I mention it might be good to have separate cylinders for each caliper driven by electric motors?
) on the wheel(s) that lift off the ground or otherwise lose traction. This'll send lots of torque to the opposite wheel with traction.
Since this is mostly likely a one-off project, email me and we can discuss next-gen engine materials?
For induction, I would like to suggest a twin-charging intake system. A tight-tolerance clutch-actuated (off the crank, of course) twin-screw supercharger can handle the low revs while TWO (for packaging reasons) big turbos (also from next-gen materials, email me to discuss) can handle boost from each bank.
A throttleless intake manifold is a must. I have an idea for a variable lift/timing/duration cam system that can work without a throttle valve, thus eliminating power loss from sucking vacuum. You can also get maximum torque from all RPMs except for idle, heh. I also think telescoping intake runners would benefit the wide powerband - you want that, right? One of Mazda's Le Mans (IIRC) rotaries used telescoping runners.
One other thing about the cam system - put some thought into using the Miller intake cycle - throughout 15-20% of the beginning of the compression stroke, the valves remain open. You'll find some nice numbers from the single Mazda engine that used it.
I'd like to suggest direct fuel injection, but I don't really see a need for it, as we aren't going for max fuel economy.
Dry-sump lubrication a must, fully synthetic engine oil /w mixed boric acid and suspended molybdenum disulfide particles, etc.
Now for the suspension - double wishbone is a must. Carbon fiber control arms and the like will serve you well. For the springing/damping stuff, I suggest you take a look at Citroën's Hydractive series of suspensions. They look to be as close as you come to active suspension. They also have a nice anti-roll technology.
Like I said, email if you want to discuss such things.
Howard Li
howardli@rogers.com
149794156