Dream performance car? What am I missing?

[454Casull]

Layout

50-50 L/R weight distribution
45-55 F/R weight distribution

Longitudinally mounted mid-engine, rear-wheel drive

Dimensions

<= 1000mm height
>= 1500mm track
~ 3750mm wheelbase
~ 150mm ground clearance

Chassis

Aluminum honeycomb-reinforced 12-layer carbon fiber monocoque
Tungsten rhenium engine studs

Body

Teflon THV-coated 3mm polycarbonate windshield/windows
Aluminum honeycomb-reinforced Spectra Shield Plus CVR body panels

Interior

Center reclining bucket seat, 6-point Securus harness
Push-button ignition

Leather-wrapped carbon fiber wheel
_Shift levers, nitrous, brake bias adjustors, launch control switch

ECU-overriding, driver-controlled 12” touch-screen LCD /w adjacent keypad
_Boost, manual air/fuel control, 0-60 + 1/4 timer, digital speed/odometer/tachometer, fuel gauge
_Intake charge temp, oil temp, coolant temp indicators

Aerodynamics

<0.3Cd air resistance

Aluminum honeycomb-reinforced carbon fiber front dam
Titanium carbonitrided magnesium lower airfoil
_Electro-hydraulically-actuated, ECU controlled
Single-piece carbon fiber diffusing underbody panel

Induction

Carbon fiber front dam feeds radiator /w hood extractor
Carbon fiber underbody scoops/ducting feed brakes
Carbon fiber sail panels feed intercooler radiators
Carbon fiber side scoops feed turbochargers

Carbon fiber central underbody scoop aerates engine bay, cools oil cooler at trunk extraction

Air

Two-layer pleated/oiled-cotton gauze air filters
Ceramic-lined/coated hydroformed aluminum intake piping

(2) Ceramic-lined/coated 6-2-4-2 titanium T88-sized compressors – one per bank
_Silicon nitride impellers
_Titanium carbonitrided beryllium turbine shaft

Driver-adjustable + self-adjustable real-time boost controller /w knock sensor and kill switch
Ported/polished ceramic-lined/coated titanium blow-off valves /w 175mm discharge
Ceramic-lined/coated hydroformed aluminum turbo piping
24K gold folded-fin water-air intercoolers

Anti-lag system
_Air/fuel ratio decreased during partial acceleration
_Ignition timing retarded by 40 degrees

(2) 20lb aluminum bottles /w medical grade N2O @ 1 KSI @ 26 deg C
Bottle heaters

Fuel

(2) 50-litre fuel cells
_Triple-layered – 2 internal layers nitrate butadiene, exterior layer woven Spectra

(2) 10-micron +95%-efficiency titanium fuel filters [in series]
Braided Kevlar oil/water lines
Kevlar magnetic oil filter wraps /w neodymium magnets

Braided Kevlar fuel lines
Inline fuel pumps (additional for nitrous)
_Real-time ECU-regulated, 1.5kLph+
70PSI+ ECU-controlled fuel pressure regulators
Aluminum fuel rails
2500cc/min aluminum fuel injectors
_Silicon nitride links, nozzles

Intake

Electronic launch control (compares wheel spin rates F/R at launch) – regulates butterflies when activated

Drive-by-wire throttle control
Ceramic-lined/coated 6-2-4-2 aluminum throttle bodies
Ceramic-lined/coated magnesium intake manifolds
Direct port nitrous injection
Sequential multi-port fuel injection
Copper flanges

Engine

60-degree V12 4-stroke engine
Ceramic-lined/coated ported/polished impact-forged aluminum heads
Ceramic-lined/coated cast iron block
Polished intake/exhaust ports
Diamond-ground ceramic-lined cylinder bores
15mmx250mm tungsten rhenium head studs
100mmx90mm bore/stroke
8:1 compression ratio

Impact forged titanium carbonitrided 6-2-4-2 titanium pistons
Ceramic-coated piston crowns/rings
Impact forged titanium carbonitrided 6-2-4-2 wrist pins/retainers
Impact forged titanium carbonitrided 6-2-4-2 titanium I-beam connecting rods
Impact forged titanium carbonitrided 90-degree C-350 crankshaft

CNC-machined aluminum pulleys
200A alternator

Full-synthetic SAE SF-grade 10-weight straight-grade oil
Parallel primary oil filtering system
_Full-depth spin-on oil filters, 10-micron filtration
Dual bypass oil filters, 2-micron filtration
Kevlar wraps /w neodymium magnets

Valvetrain

CNC-milled titanium carbonitrided aluminum DOHC driven by dual-row Teflon-coated chains
_3D (infinite-stage) variable cam lobes
_ECU-controlled electro-hydraulic actuation
Magnesium cam covers
CNC-machined titanium rocker arms
Chrome silicon triple valve springs
Ceramic-coated titanium valves
CNC-machined adjustable laser-marked titanium carbonitrided aluminum camshaft sprockets

Ignition

Wax-encased 14.4V lithium-ion battery, inside sealed air-cooled aluminum heatsink
_200Ah capacity, 1500CCA, iridium terminals
4-gauge silicone-jacketed gold-strand battery cabling /w 24K gold connectors

ECU-controlled distributorless CD ignition system /w CP grade gold traces
_650V/800mJ primary output, 25 degree sparking (per plug), 25 sparks per event
70kV/750mA coils
‘Cold’ extended-tip spark plugs situated in center of each cylinder, 1/4" total spark plug projection
_Almost-parallel [bent towards the other] iridium electrodes [1mm fine-wire electrodes], adjustable gap
4-gauge silicone-jacketed braided copper RFI-suppressing spark wiring
_Silicone boots, iridium terminals

Firing order – 1-7-5-11-3-9-6-12-2-8-4-10

8HP starter motor

Heat

Mesh-screened side/underbody scoops/front dam
50mm tall full-width quarter-length 24K gold folded-fin radiator
_Titanium carbonitrided aluminum panel bonded to radiator bottom

24K gold folded-fin intercooler radiators, reservoirs can accept distilled ice

Exhaust

Seamless ceramic-lined/coated ported/polished hydroformed titanium 3-1 headers

Ceramic-lined/coated CMSX-4 twin-scroll [two headers in] turbines /w silicon nitride impellers
_Air bearings, variable nozzle geometry for instant boost
Ceramic-lined/coated external ported/polished titanium wastegates /w 90mm valves

Ceramic-lined/coated hydroformed 6-2-4-2 titanium down-pipes
Catalytic converters /w electric wrap heaters
Single-piece ceramic-lined/coated hydroformed 6-2-4-2 titanium exhausts
Straight-through absorption mufflers [single tip]

Drivetrain

CNC-machined titanium carbonitrided steel flywheel

Titanium clutch cover
Electro-hydraulically-actuated pull-type 5-disc carbon/carbon 250mm clutch

Longitudinally mounted seven-speed gearbox bolted to clutch
Titanium gearbox casing
Titanium carbonitrided C-350 selector rods/forks
Straight-cut titanium carbonitrided C-350 transmission gears

Carbon fiber output/half-shafts

Viscous-coupling rear differential

Suspension

Manual rack/pinion steering
Titanium carbonitrided titanium rack/pinion /w linear tooth pitch
Titanium carbonitrided C-350 tie-rods/steering knuckles/spindles

Four-wheel double wishbone suspension /w vertical coil-over setup
Carbon fiber unequal-length non-parallel control arms
Titanium anti-roll bars

Powdercoated cold-formed shotpeened chrome silicon steel springs
Adjustable titanium-body mono-tube gas-hydraulic dampers /w pressurized N2

Titanium carbonitrided tungsten rhenium Heim joints

Brakes

Brake-by-wire four-channel, four-sensor ABS
CNC-machined aluminum brake cylinders, front/rear separate masters
Braided Kevlar brake lines /w DOT5.1 brake fluid
12-piston 6-pad fixed calipers /w titanium pistons
Bedded carbon fiber brake pads
450mmx35mm 48-vane slotted vented ceramic rotors
Impact forged titanium carbonitrided aluminum hats
Hat-driven impellers (removes brake dust and improves cooling)

Wheels

Forged single-piece 5-spoke titanium carbonitrided magnesium rims

Soft-compound stiff-sidewall slicks
275/35R-19 front, 350/40R-19 rear

Materials

Aluminum – 7075-T6 alloy
Titanium – 15V-3Cr-3Al-3Sn, high strength
6-2-4-2 titanium – alpha titanium, good creep strength
Magnesium – WE46-T6, low thermal conductivity, lightweight
Tungsten rhenium – extremely strong alloy, 711ksi tensile yield, 62400ksi mod/elasticity (not typo)
Titanium carbonitride – ultra-hard coating for metals, non-toxic, wear/abrade-resistant, inert
Allvac VascoMax C-350 – 335ksi/325ksi tensile/compressive cobalt-strengthened maraging steel
Ceramic – insulating yttrium-stabilized zirconia coating for high temperature parts (>2000C)
Nitrate butadiene – rubber
Silicon nitride – a hard ceramic /w excellent wear properties
Beryllium – excellent strength-to-weight ratio, stiff, excellent thermal properties

[texan]

Since we're just dreaming here, I'll leave the particulars of how in the world you'd fund a billion dollar car project alone. It's cool, all of the best ideas come from dreams anyways, so let's run with it but ground some ideas firmly into reality.

First off, I highly recommend you buy the book "Race Car Vehicle Dynamics" by the Millikens. Though it's just a flash in the pan when compared to the whole of automotive knowledge, it's still the best single commercially available source of race proven knowledge out there. Buy it, read it, follow it.

Secondly, ground your material choices in reality and what works best for the intended application, not what sounds cool. Ti is a terrible material for suspension hard parts, chassis material and some of your other parts usage. It might sound sexy and is certainly a rare and expensive item, but it's also anything but rigid and galls the SHIT out of any other metal it comes into direct contact with. Hence gears, chassis parts, and other frictional items (such as bearings and the like) are strictly out of the question. You'll want to use a 6000 to 7000 series aluminum for the parts that need to be extremely rigid (this will work out to be both cheaper, lighter and MUCH more effective than Ti), such as chassis parts, suspension parts and some engine parts. You'll want to use low carbon steels or chrome moly for many of the engine and drivetrain parts, as this is about the strongest metal and fabrication friendly stuff you can find, which is why they're so commonly used in automotive applications today. Repeat after me: aluminum is rigid and light, magnesium is super light but intolerant to heat and friction, steel is VERY strong, and titanium is just damned expensive and difficult to work with. IMO, that's the short short version of the crash course to metalurgy.

Thirdly, your tire spec is simply silly. It is IMO worse to go too wide with a tire than not wide enough, and the widest you ever need go is around 10" for a lightweight car. The spec you have is so wide that any small camber angle will destroy tire adhesion (the contact patch would be almost nil), not to mention the complete lack of directional stability such a wide tire would produce. Making a tire wider does not appreciably make the contact patch bigger, it just makes it wider but shorter. A very short and wide contact patch is horrible in terms of longitudinal traction, not to mention intolerant to anything but dry pavement.

The last thing I'll give reality check to is the aero package. Making ridiculous amounts of downforce at low speeds (aero only starts to work around 45 mph) will ensure a hugely ineffecient package at high speeds. Besides, a proper body shape will naturally NOT create lift, so drag inducing wings and downfroce enablers are somewhat superflious in such an application. If you get a closed wheel body shape right, there's little need for such componentry.

Ps- You have everything to learn about suspensions. The suspension setup you have slightly outlined is horrible, the alignment is something you tune AFTER you do the basic design. Multilink is bullshit for anything race oriented, double wishbone is all you'll need. Ti is unsuitable for anything related to the suspension, stick with the basics there. Most things in the cockpit that are adjustable should have to do with the suspension, as the engine's power is already modulated with the throttle... the suspension is not. And nobody uses bushings on a serious race setup, you use heim joints and bearings; everything is solid and doesn't allow for binding or deflection.

Pps- Where are you going to fit that super complex flat 12 in?

[454Casull]

First off, I highly recommend you buy the book "Race Car Vehicle Dynamics" by the Millikens.

Do you know where I can find that?

Besides, a proper body shape will naturally NOT create lift, so drag inducing wings and downfroce enablers are somewhat superflious in such an application.

But wouldn't high-speed stability increase? Perhaps the amount of downforce created was a stretch of the imagination, but...

Pps- Where are you going to fit that super complex flat 12 in?

Yes... it would be quite large.

Anyway, thanks for all the info, although I find my cringing after every word I read.

[NeoFreek]

Rain and Snow tires? That caught my eye the most. This car that you are describing sounds like its fairly expensive and very fast. Why would you even want to drive it in the rain or the snow? Sounds crazy to me.

There are other little things that I could mention but don't have the time. But overall its fairly good.

[texan]

You can find that book at amzaon.com, that's where I bought it. It'll cost you around $90 dollars, and is worth every penny IMO.

Stability is largely a function fo aerodynamics at high speed, the rest being a function of suspension setup. Downforce doesn't necesarily mean a stable ride, it's balance we are after. That requires a critical eye towards aero setp front and rear plus serious thought given to suspension setup too. A suspension setup for low speed driving often doesn't work well at high speed, so there's compromises to be made everywhere in the package.

[Someguy]

Holy cut and paste Batman! How many articals did you cut and paste this out of? But what the hell, I'll talk a shot at it. But are we talking F1 on crack here or what? I'll guess you are going for some sort street dirived car (since you mention nitrious).

What the hell, it may be fun:

Originally posted by 454Casull
Suggestions would be great.

Layout

50/50 left/right weight distribution
45/55 front/rear weight distribution

Well, it depends. Most passes are made during braking. Having a rear weight bias is an advantage in that when weight shifts forward having the front and rear wheels contribute equally to braking is to your advantage. BUT the trade off is in steady state cornering where you want both the front and rear to take equal loads.

Dimensions

< 1100mm height
> 2300mm width
> 2000mm track
@ 4500mm length
@ 3000mm wheelbase
@ 150mm ground clearance

There is no "right answer" to that one. In general you want the widest track and wheel base while keeping the moment of inertia as small as possible. A Miata will generally whip a Diablo on a tight auto-x, and a Diablo will generally whip a Miata on a high speed road course.

Chassis

Carbon fiber/aluminum honeycomb composite monocoque
50mm solid aluminum-reinforced carbon fiber cabin roll cage
No clips
Aluminum firewall
Carbon fiber unibody construction

Monocoque and unibody are two different construction techniques. Also an aluminum firewall is going to make for some very "hop laps".

Bodywork

I'm just going to skip this one...

Interior

Reclining bucket seat
5-point harness
Carbon fiber/magnesium finish

All out there is no "finish", most likely just unfinished carbon fiber, which is just a dull charcoal grey.

Leather-covered wheel with nitrous, fuel mixture, boost, brake bias adjustors
Steering wheel airbag

No nitrous, no air bag (that's what the 5 point harness, helmet, and roll cage are for)

Magnesium gas/brake/clutch pedals

Clutch? What's this "Clutch" you speak of?

Aluminum short shifter
Aluminum linear shift gate

Shif...ter? What is a Shif...ter... Is it like the "padel shifter" the ancient text speaks of?

Aerodynamics

<0.3Cd air resistance

Full-width front dam feeds radiator
Side scoops feed cold air intakes
Sail panels feed intercoolers

Don't forget the brakes....

Suspension

Aluminum-reinforced carbon fiber steering column
All-aluminum rack gear/pinion shaft/tie-rods/steering knuckles/wheel spindles

Depends ont the weight of the car... But an aluminum rack is a bad idea.

Four-wheel double wishbone suspension /w coil-over setup
Aluminum-reinforced carbon fiber unequal-length control arms

Coil overs? You want a rocker-arm suspension. I probably wouldn't use carbon fiber here.

Uncoated progressively wound low-height chrome silicon springs
Adjustable aluminum-body twin-tube hydraulic dampers

Forget the progressive springs... Out... Forget the twin tube shocks, monotube are much more efficient... Aluminum? I thought we were a magnesium/titanium outfit?

50mm straight solid aluminum-reinforced carbon fiber strut braces

Struts?

40mm solid aluminum-reinforced carbon fiber anti-sway bars

Sway bar? (Even if you had a sway bar, why solid?)

Aluminum heim joints

Heim joints? Now your talking. (Texan knows what I'm talking about)

Electrical

Manual windows

We don't have doors, but we have windows? I guess that's why it never rained during the Dukes of Hazard...

I think we just don't drive this beast in the rain.

Intake

Two-layer pleated/oiled-cotton gauze air filters (turbo intakes only)

Cotton, the fabric of our lives. (just playing at this point)

Aluminum-reinforced carbon fiber air piping

No need to reinforce it, unless its a loaded member in our unibody-monoque-tubeframe.

Getting late, so I'll just skip ahead to:

Extended-tip ‘cold‘ spark plugs /w 24K gold electrodes, 0.065” electrode gap, 3-way split ground electrode

Gold electrodes? I guess we won't be going on many long trips down the driveway and back.

Engine

Cast-aluminum diamond-bored liquid-cooled engine block/heads
Completely balanced horizontally-opposed 12-cylinder engine

How about a 60 degree V12? Works much better.

100mmx110mm bore/stroke
11.5:1 compression ratio
2:1 rod/crank ratio

Why under-square? What kind of valve arrangment are we running here?

CNC-machined 24K gold head gaskets

Gold head gaskets? How about a nice old fashion copper O-ring?

Valvetrain

CNC-machined hollowed magnesium DOHC
Ultra-high-lift cams
Long-overlap/duration intake/exhaust profiles

Why not a oversquare bore/stroke to take advantage of our high revving attitude?

Carbon fiber cam covers

Sure, why not.

Drivetrain

Longitudinally-mounted rear-engine, rear wheel drive
All-aluminum six-speed gearbox

Let's just go F1 and cast it as one peice with the engine block.

CNC-machined aluminum transmission gears /w synchronizers

We're going sequential on the mother-fucker.

Exhaust

(2) 3M Nextel ceramic-coated ported/polished 85mm aluminum 6-2-1 exhaust headers

The turbos might get mad at being left out here...

(4) Reflection/absorption carbon fiber-shell mufflers

I'd go with a straight though design with our displacement/turbo arrangment.

_Snow
Soft-compound stiff-sidewall snow-block radial tires F/R
__10”/12” tread width front/rear
__18” front, 19” rear
__<55 aspect-ratio

You're going to drive this in the snow?

Brakes

Four-channel, four-sensor anti-locking brake system
CNC-machined aluminum (master) brake cylinders
Braided Kevlar brake lines
DOT5.1 brake fluid

Braded steel lines. And no reason for the 5.1 fluid.

16” magnesium cross-drilled vented six-bolt rotors
6-piston floating calipers /w carbon fiber brake pads

Why the hell would you run floating calipers? If I'm going to all this trouble, I want those Alcon 12 pot fixed calipers on page 9. If I HAVE to go with 6 pots, I still want fixed calipers. Rotors: either ceramic or two peice billet aluminum hats with Iron rotors.

Miscellaneous

½” walled silicone hose
Aluminum hose clamps

I'd take the braided steel hoses.

Anyway...

[454Casull]

I want to be able to street this thing...

[Someguy]

Nevermind.

[454Casull]

Updated...

How about a 60 degree V12? Works much better.

???

[texan]

I don't know what you're getting at with the three question marks to someguy's point about 60 degree V12's vs. flat 12's, but his point is an obvious one. A flat 12 uses up an incredible amount of real estate within the car chassis, and really only has one advantage: low Cg. Other than that, the 60 degree banked 12 is equal or better in all regards, most importantly in terms of space efficiency. That's why nobody uses flat 12's anymore.

[Someguy]

BTW, here's an example of a serious A-arm:



Notice the heim joints, adjustibility and mounting hardware.

[454Casull]

You have any more pictures from where that came from?

[Someguy]

Originally posted by 454Casull
You have any more pictures from where that came from?

Check out:

http://www.baer.com/catalog/baer_color_brochure.pdf

Page 9 is very interesting...

[MaFi0s0]

dont know if this has been mentioned yet but, adjustable camber, mercedes has a concept car wich has motorbike like tires with adjustable camber, when the car is going straight it is 0degrees but the more you turn the more negative camber you get so the tires, although thin, always have a good contact patch on the road regardless of how much your cornering or the body roll.

[454Casull]

Don't unequal-length control arms allow for that?