20th-Mar-21, 08:34 PM
Alan
Not sure any of the following answers any of your questions, I have three theories regarding suspension on slot cars: -
1. In real like, you want to minimise the un-sprung weight of a car to maximise the effectiveness of the springs. So using F1 as an example, you effectively only have the wheels as the un-sprung weight. In slot car, you have no chance of replicating best practice, as the slot car wheels are connected to the motor which is connected to the pod, which all adds up to a significant proportion of a slot car's weight. So suspension on a slot car won't be doing the same job as suspension on a real car.
2. According to some, fast moving slots cars on plastic track spend half their time with the wheels off the ground due to the unevenness of jointed track. On that basis, and with reference to point 1, to be effective, any suspension on a plastic track slot car needs to be 'soft' to have any chance of absorbing any imperfections in the track.
3. On wood tracks, whilst 'hard' is the accepted strategy, suspension is still provided, but by small deformations in the tyres. It seems to me that installing sprung suspension on a wood track car can't do any harm. If the track is smooth, it's there but not getting in the way of anything, and if there are imperfections in the track, it can take some of the suspension responsibility off the tyres and let them get on with gripping the track. I have put a 'wood' car together with sprung suspension for some proxy races, but I will be doing some back to back testing first to compare it with a more traditionally set up car to see if there is any perceptible differences.
I have just bought an SRC Peugeot 205 rally car with no pod, but each wheel is independently sprung, so basically minimising the un-sprung weight. Really looking forward to seeing where it can go.
Not sure any of the following answers any of your questions, I have three theories regarding suspension on slot cars: -
1. In real like, you want to minimise the un-sprung weight of a car to maximise the effectiveness of the springs. So using F1 as an example, you effectively only have the wheels as the un-sprung weight. In slot car, you have no chance of replicating best practice, as the slot car wheels are connected to the motor which is connected to the pod, which all adds up to a significant proportion of a slot car's weight. So suspension on a slot car won't be doing the same job as suspension on a real car.
2. According to some, fast moving slots cars on plastic track spend half their time with the wheels off the ground due to the unevenness of jointed track. On that basis, and with reference to point 1, to be effective, any suspension on a plastic track slot car needs to be 'soft' to have any chance of absorbing any imperfections in the track.
3. On wood tracks, whilst 'hard' is the accepted strategy, suspension is still provided, but by small deformations in the tyres. It seems to me that installing sprung suspension on a wood track car can't do any harm. If the track is smooth, it's there but not getting in the way of anything, and if there are imperfections in the track, it can take some of the suspension responsibility off the tyres and let them get on with gripping the track. I have put a 'wood' car together with sprung suspension for some proxy races, but I will be doing some back to back testing first to compare it with a more traditionally set up car to see if there is any perceptible differences.
I have just bought an SRC Peugeot 205 rally car with no pod, but each wheel is independently sprung, so basically minimising the un-sprung weight. Really looking forward to seeing where it can go.
I love puttering with gears
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