Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Porsche 959 Suspension - Corvette? Re: Vintage Auto Journalism - Active Suspension Top Gear 1983 (NFC)

[Hans E. Hansen (FList]

What I hated the most with the introduction of anti-lock braking and
later FX3 was that the "well" behind the driver's seat used to be a
good place for your ice and beer.

Hans.

On 2/17/21, LSJ via Ferrari <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com> wrote:
> Pretty interesting link describing the Bilstein dampers from the Porsche 959
> and being adapted to the Corvette starting with MY 1989.
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> C4 Corvette's Selective Ride Control - Six Steps for a King's Ride - Page 1
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> C4 Corvette's Selective Ride Control - Six Steps for a King's Ride - Pag...
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> The Inside Story of the C4 Corvette's Shock Absorber Revolution, Selective
> Ride Control system.
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> B
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> LSJ
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>     On Wednesday, February 17, 2021, 4:17:08 PM EST, Erik Nielsen
> <judge4re [at] gmail.com> wrote:
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>  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagneRide
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> On Feb 17, 2021, at 2:17 PM, Lashdeep Singh via Ferrari
> <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com> wrote:
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> Hans, great info and insight.
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> I guess the concession was FX3 selective ride control?
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> That system works pretty well with some maintenance.
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> On Feb 17, 2021, at 12:55, Hans E. Hansen <FList [at] hanshansen.org> wrote:
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> The active suspension was why GM bought Lotus back then.  They
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> envisioned it being in all the higher end cars, Corvette first.  But
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> it would also make for a Caddy that would ride like a pillow and still
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> have good control.
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> The Corvette development program was so far along that some of the
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> parts appeared in the parts catalog briefly - before being deleted in
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> later editions.  It was supposed to be applied to the soon-to-be
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> released 1990 ZR1. At least one of the 1989 ZR1 test mules was fitted.
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> (Side note: GM temporarily loaned the 20 or so 1989 ZR1 test/press
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> cars to a driving school I attended.  So I actually got to drive one.
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> The active suspension car was not present.)
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> At a product event around that time, I asked one of the engineers why
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> the project was cancelled.  He indicated that they couldn't overcome
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> price and reliability hurdles.  The biggest issue was the high
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> pressure valves, followed by the actuators themselves.  To make it
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> work, they needed to use 3000psi components, which are off-the-shelf
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> for aircraft and some industrial applications.  These valves needed to
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> be very high speed, so they had to use the top of the line pieces.
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> But they couldn't figure out how to produce them at a cost that was
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> practical for road cars. Add to that were potential reliability
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> issues, what with 3000psi lines running all around the car.  They
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> didn't think any of the components would last the usual life span that
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> Corvettes usually experience.  And owners would likely be reluctant to
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> "refresh" the system every few years for the many $thousands$ it would
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> take.  On aircraft, this stuff is check over regularly, as it was in
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> Formula 1 cars of the time.  But what about a car subject to the usual
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> abuses and deferred maintenance?  Plus potential warranty headaches.
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> What could have been....
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> Hans.
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> On 2/16/21, Lashdeep Singh via Ferrari <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com> wrote:
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> To the point made a few days ago about real auto journalism...
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> It is hard to believe that this appeared on a public TV station.
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> Just superb!
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> https://youtu.be/iPQ66fW9RAM
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