Today I wonder about suspension roll in turns, Namely if it can be used to good effect in a 4 wheel vehicle instead of the typical negative effect it has.
I'm thinking in an ultra light vehicle where its only a fraction of the drivers weight and siting low enough, Could someone link the suspension somehow to the driver such that it rolls into a turn (Like a bicycle), instead of out of?
I'm thinking with enough rear suspension travel assuming a trailing arm suspension, if you drop the outside wheel enough you can actually get a wider wheelbase as you tilt the vehicle.
With mushy enough suspension and narrow wheelbase, It also might just be practical for the driver to lean over into the turn and shift enough weight to make the vehicle lean and shift CG enough.
My other idea is linking the steering to some kind of suspension bias springs, But I fear that might make it very difficult to steer and result in bumps having a lot of feedback into the steering.
A 3rd thought was having the seat/occupant on a pivot that would lean him into the turn via G forces as the pivot point would be above his center of mass. But I realised that would actually worsen the center of gravity of the vehicle by moving it to the outside. Maybe if it was connected to the suspension in a way such that tilt of the driver caused the suspension to react... Seems like a lot of work and compromise of the design however, but it would be G force based so it would not excessively tilt the vehicle at low speed when unneeded. It might be rather unsettling to the driver however.
Also with the very large wheel like the 26" wheels I plan to use, the front wheels using double A frame suspension can be set to camber outwards regardless what direction the frame is designed to roll in a turn, slightly improving wheel base.
Although that then requires that the ride height be well tuned to the load to prevent excessive negative or
I'm thinking in an ultra light vehicle where its only a fraction of the drivers weight and siting low enough, Could someone link the suspension somehow to the driver such that it rolls into a turn (Like a bicycle), instead of out of?
I'm thinking with enough rear suspension travel assuming a trailing arm suspension, if you drop the outside wheel enough you can actually get a wider wheelbase as you tilt the vehicle.
With mushy enough suspension and narrow wheelbase, It also might just be practical for the driver to lean over into the turn and shift enough weight to make the vehicle lean and shift CG enough.
My other idea is linking the steering to some kind of suspension bias springs, But I fear that might make it very difficult to steer and result in bumps having a lot of feedback into the steering.
A 3rd thought was having the seat/occupant on a pivot that would lean him into the turn via G forces as the pivot point would be above his center of mass. But I realised that would actually worsen the center of gravity of the vehicle by moving it to the outside. Maybe if it was connected to the suspension in a way such that tilt of the driver caused the suspension to react... Seems like a lot of work and compromise of the design however, but it would be G force based so it would not excessively tilt the vehicle at low speed when unneeded. It might be rather unsettling to the driver however.
Also with the very large wheel like the 26" wheels I plan to use, the front wheels using double A frame suspension can be set to camber outwards regardless what direction the frame is designed to roll in a turn, slightly improving wheel base.
Although that then requires that the ride height be well tuned to the load to prevent excessive negative or
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