| he describes the benefits of structural rigidity in the SCC article well enough. in my case, I can drive down the same street at 20 mph in my vert and then in my pals TT coupe with the exact same shocks, springs, tires and his car does nothing. Mine shakes and shudders all over the place. In a straight line. Kojima's statement about having a frame stiff enough to let the suspension do it's job, is where I'm at. If the frame is flexible, the suspension does a job on the frame, and you. Get into a pal's C-4 Vette convertible or E-36 convertbile from BMW, if you don't have a Z32 vert to compare to. All fairly stable convertbiles, until you find their weak spot. Each has bad cowl shake at some speed on some surfaces. I tried them all. DON'T drive them fast, take them slow on side-streets, up driveways, over RR tracks, etc. Soak it all in. Then drive an S2000. Or a C-5 vette vert. There is no comparison. Newer technology. Those cars, as far as I can feel, seem like they have a roof. Simply incredible. A stiffer frame is what does that, for the most part. In the case of an S2000 it's harder to tell, since it's shocks are as stiff as an RX7 R1. The Vette, with it's magnetic fluid shocks, is like a limo at all times, till you stomp on it. I bought a slicktop--to check out the stiffness factor--smooth as glass at any speed. The way Z's were meant to be...IMHO, and I still like verts better--for other reasons. I dont' expect my vert to be as stable as my slicktop, but I think that for a few hundred bucks, I can probably improve it a hell of a lot, and not have 75 lbs of steel hanging on the bottom, waiting to be hit. _MWS
Crash Test Dummy(tm)
"taking it on the chin so you don't have to..." |
