Active Suspension C4 ZR-1 Prototype
12-29-2013, 08:31 PM
#2
Melting Slicks
12-30-2013, 04:04 PM
#4
Safety Car
I was the one that found the car. At least I forced GM to admit they built one. When I was editor at Corvette Fever I got a copy of the Owner's Manual. I then found pictures. Next, I talked to a few engineers that worked on the car. Then we ran the story.
Dave Hill went ballistic on me. First, he told me the pictures were fake and the car never existed. I was just an idiot and I had been duped. Ok, Dave.
Then I was invited on a road trip for the 2000 introduction - or some such thing. Dave Hlll put one of his lap dogs in the car with me for the drive to Grand Rapids. I listened to a lecture all the way to Grand Rapids. I was no longer an idiot. Yes, the car did exist but it was irresponsible of me to print the story. That went on for about an hour.
Then during the next hour the lap dog explained to me how GM could have provided a lot of help had I just asked. I have never wanted to get out of a Corvette so bad in my life. The lap dog was really boring since he didn't really know a thing about the car. He was just doing what Dave Hill told him to do.
The following week GM issued a press release about how they were donating the car to the National Corvette Museum. They were holding a gala event and flying people in from around the country. Guess who never got an invitation?
We had a lot of fun with Dave back in the day. When your magazine sells over 100,000 copies every month and advertising money is rolling in the door life is good. We were rich and arrogant. Damn it was fun.
Blogs just aren't the same.
Richard Newton
Dave Hill went ballistic on me. First, he told me the pictures were fake and the car never existed. I was just an idiot and I had been duped. Ok, Dave.
Then I was invited on a road trip for the 2000 introduction - or some such thing. Dave Hlll put one of his lap dogs in the car with me for the drive to Grand Rapids. I listened to a lecture all the way to Grand Rapids. I was no longer an idiot. Yes, the car did exist but it was irresponsible of me to print the story. That went on for about an hour.
Then during the next hour the lap dog explained to me how GM could have provided a lot of help had I just asked. I have never wanted to get out of a Corvette so bad in my life. The lap dog was really boring since he didn't really know a thing about the car. He was just doing what Dave Hill told him to do.
The following week GM issued a press release about how they were donating the car to the National Corvette Museum. They were holding a gala event and flying people in from around the country. Guess who never got an invitation?
We had a lot of fun with Dave back in the day. When your magazine sells over 100,000 copies every month and advertising money is rolling in the door life is good. We were rich and arrogant. Damn it was fun.
Blogs just aren't the same.
Richard Newton
12-30-2013, 06:13 PM
#5
Former Vendor
Member Since: Aug 2005
Location: Lewisville TX
Posts: 16,898
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St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13
I was the one that found the car. At least I forced GM to admit they built one. When I was editor at Corvette Fever I got a copy of the Owner's Manual. I then found pictures. Next, I talked to a few engineers that worked on the car. Then we ran the story.
Dave Hill went ballistic on me. First, he told me the pictures were fake and the car never existed. I was just an idiot and I had been duped. Ok, Dave.
Then I was invited on a road trip for the 2000 introduction - or some such thing. Dave Hlll put one of his lap dogs in the car with me for the drive to Grand Rapids. I listened to a lecture all the way to Grand Rapids. I was no longer an idiot. Yes, the car did exist but it was irresponsible of me to print the story. That went on for about an hour.
Then during the next hour the lap dog explained to me how GM could have provided a lot of help had I just asked. I have never wanted to get out of a Corvette so bad in my life. The lap dog was really boring since he didn't really know a thing about the car. He was just doing what Dave Hill told him to do.
The following week GM issued a press release about how they were donating the car to the National Corvette Museum. They were holding a gala event and flying people in from around the country. Guess who never got an invitation?
We had a lot of fun with Dave back in the day. When your magazine sells over 100,000 copies every month and advertising money is rolling in the door life is good. We were rich and arrogant. Damn it was fun.
Blogs just aren't the same.
Richard Newton
Dave Hill went ballistic on me. First, he told me the pictures were fake and the car never existed. I was just an idiot and I had been duped. Ok, Dave.
Then I was invited on a road trip for the 2000 introduction - or some such thing. Dave Hlll put one of his lap dogs in the car with me for the drive to Grand Rapids. I listened to a lecture all the way to Grand Rapids. I was no longer an idiot. Yes, the car did exist but it was irresponsible of me to print the story. That went on for about an hour.
Then during the next hour the lap dog explained to me how GM could have provided a lot of help had I just asked. I have never wanted to get out of a Corvette so bad in my life. The lap dog was really boring since he didn't really know a thing about the car. He was just doing what Dave Hill told him to do.
The following week GM issued a press release about how they were donating the car to the National Corvette Museum. They were holding a gala event and flying people in from around the country. Guess who never got an invitation?
We had a lot of fun with Dave back in the day. When your magazine sells over 100,000 copies every month and advertising money is rolling in the door life is good. We were rich and arrogant. Damn it was fun.
Blogs just aren't the same.
Richard Newton
12-30-2013, 08:41 PM
#7
Safety Car
The best active handling story was the Hendricks Lola. It was the first time they had the car on the track. They pulled into the pits after about 5 laps. When they connected the air jacks the car went up in the air and the active handling computer put all 4 wheels up into the wheel wells. They couldn't get the wheels off the car.
It was one of those "Oh Shi*t moments.
Richard Newton
It was one of those "Oh Shi*t moments.
Richard Newton
12-30-2013, 09:20 PM
#8
Race Director
The best active handling story was the Hendricks Lola. It was the first time they had the car on the track. They pulled into the pits after about 5 laps. When they connected the air jacks the car went up in the air and the active handling computer put all 4 wheels up into the wheel wells. They couldn't get the wheels off the car.
It was one of those "Oh Shi*t moments.
Richard Newton
It was one of those "Oh Shi*t moments.
Richard Newton
12-31-2013, 09:35 AM
#9
Safety Car
The best active handling story was the Hendricks Lola. It was the first time they had the car on the track. They pulled into the pits after about 5 laps. When they connected the air jacks the car went up in the air and the active handling computer put all 4 wheels up into the wheel wells. They couldn't get the wheels off the car.
It was one of those "Oh Shi*t moments.
Richard Newton
It was one of those "Oh Shi*t moments.
Richard Newton
That is pretty funny...
12-31-2013, 12:33 PM
#15
Safety Car
The real significance of the active handling C4 was that GM made a decision to go after Ferrari. The ZR-1 active handling car was aimed directly at the Ferrari road cars. A lot of the Corvette group had been wanting to do this for years. It's a shame that it didn't work out.
Richard Newton
Richard Newton
12-31-2013, 01:26 PM
#16
Team Owner
Thread Starter
Member Since: Mar 2001
Location: Boston, Dallas, Detroit, SoCal, back to Boston MA
Posts: 30,606
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all types listed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_suspension
this is what's on the current cars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_suspension
Hydraulic actuated
Hydraulically actuated suspensions are controlled with the use of hydraulic servomechanisms. The hydraulic pressure to the servos is supplied by a high pressure radial piston hydraulic pump. Sensors continually monitor body movement and vehicle ride level, constantly supplying the computer with new data. As the computer receives and processes data, it operates the hydraulic servos, mounted beside each wheel. Almost instantly, the servo-regulated suspension generates counter forces to body lean, dive, and squat during driving maneuvers.
In practice, the system has always incorporated the desirable self-levelling suspension and height adjustable suspension features, with the latter now tied to vehicle speed for improved aerodynamic performance, as the vehicle lowers itself at high speed.
Colin Chapman developed the original concept of computer management of hydraulic suspension in the 1980s to improve cornering in racing cars. Lotus developed a version of its 1985 Excel with electro-hydraulic active suspension, but never offered it for sale.
Computer Active Technology Suspension (CATS) co-ordinates the best possible balance between ride quality and handling by analysing road conditions and making up to 3,000 adjustments every second to the suspension settings via electronically controlled dampers.
Hydraulically actuated suspensions are controlled with the use of hydraulic servomechanisms. The hydraulic pressure to the servos is supplied by a high pressure radial piston hydraulic pump. Sensors continually monitor body movement and vehicle ride level, constantly supplying the computer with new data. As the computer receives and processes data, it operates the hydraulic servos, mounted beside each wheel. Almost instantly, the servo-regulated suspension generates counter forces to body lean, dive, and squat during driving maneuvers.
In practice, the system has always incorporated the desirable self-levelling suspension and height adjustable suspension features, with the latter now tied to vehicle speed for improved aerodynamic performance, as the vehicle lowers itself at high speed.
Colin Chapman developed the original concept of computer management of hydraulic suspension in the 1980s to improve cornering in racing cars. Lotus developed a version of its 1985 Excel with electro-hydraulic active suspension, but never offered it for sale.
Computer Active Technology Suspension (CATS) co-ordinates the best possible balance between ride quality and handling by analysing road conditions and making up to 3,000 adjustments every second to the suspension settings via electronically controlled dampers.
Magneto rheological damper
Main article: Magneto rheological damper
Another fairly recent method incorporates magneto rheological dampers with a brand name MagneRide. It was initially developed by Delphi Corporation for GM and was standard, as many other new technologies, for Cadillac Seville STS (from model 2002), and on some other GM models from 2003. This was an upgrade for semi-active systems ("automatic road-sensing suspensions") used in upscale GM vehicles for decades. It allows, together with faster modern computers, changing the stiffness of all wheel suspensions independently. These dampers are finding increased usage in the US and already leases to some foreign brands, mostly in more expensive vehicles. In this system, being in development for 25 years, the damper fluid contains metallic particles. Through the onboard computer, the dampers' compliance characteristics are controlled by an electromagnet. Essentially, increasing the current flow into the damper raises the compression/rebound rates, while a decrease softens the effect of the dampers. Information from wheel sensors (about suspension extension), steering, acceleration sensors and some others is used to calculate the optimized stiffness. The fast reaction of the system allows, for instance, make softer passing by a single wheel over a bump in the road.
Main article: Magneto rheological damper
Another fairly recent method incorporates magneto rheological dampers with a brand name MagneRide. It was initially developed by Delphi Corporation for GM and was standard, as many other new technologies, for Cadillac Seville STS (from model 2002), and on some other GM models from 2003. This was an upgrade for semi-active systems ("automatic road-sensing suspensions") used in upscale GM vehicles for decades. It allows, together with faster modern computers, changing the stiffness of all wheel suspensions independently. These dampers are finding increased usage in the US and already leases to some foreign brands, mostly in more expensive vehicles. In this system, being in development for 25 years, the damper fluid contains metallic particles. Through the onboard computer, the dampers' compliance characteristics are controlled by an electromagnet. Essentially, increasing the current flow into the damper raises the compression/rebound rates, while a decrease softens the effect of the dampers. Information from wheel sensors (about suspension extension), steering, acceleration sensors and some others is used to calculate the optimized stiffness. The fast reaction of the system allows, for instance, make softer passing by a single wheel over a bump in the road.
12-31-2013, 03:17 PM
#17
Melting Slicks
12-31-2013, 03:20 PM
#18
Melting Slicks
The real significance of the active handling C4 was that GM made a decision to go after Ferrari. The ZR-1 active handling car was aimed directly at the Ferrari road cars. A lot of the Corvette group had been wanting to do this for years. It's a shame that it didn't work out.
Richard Newton
Richard Newton