When did suspensions get this good?

[amirm]

Home... recovering from awful stomach flu/food poisoning.... Passing the time and lingering misery with watching videos and see this:

It is hard to fathom what these machines are doing at this speed and over so many bumps. How that suspension progressively handles the load is just amazing.

 

[Power Pop 23]

Home... recovering from awful stomach flu/food poisoning.... Passing the time and lingering misery with watching videos and see this:

It is hard to fathom what these machines are doing at this speed and over so many bumps. How that suspension progressively handles the load is just amazing.

Engineering that perhaps makes it possible for a human to still maintain control !

May you vegetate your way to a speedy recovery, Amir.

 

[manac]

That’s what I need for the potholes around here!
Get better soon, I need more reviews to read.

 

[JeffGB]

I hope you feel better soon, Amir! Those vehicles are really amazing. It all comes down to mass, suspension rate, and speed. Hit a resonance frequency of the chassis/tires/wheels and everything goes to hell . I imagine it's a lot like designing a speaker.

 

[kemmler3D]

Is there an active component to these, or are they just cleverly designed spring systems?

 

[Karmacoma]

It reminded me of Bose's active electromagnetic suspension system derived from their research on loudspeakers.

 

[xanalog]

Passing the time and lingering misery with watching videos and see this:

I wish you a fast recovery and less misery...
... but if it is going to last much longer, you may have some time to watch some of 2026 "King of the Hammers" hill-climb races on yotube.
Some of these 'rock-crawler' vehicles, at these events, cost near half-a-million dollars, in BS&T.

"King of the Hammers is the world’s toughest off-road race, combining high-speed desert racing with extreme rock crawling in Johnson Valley, California. Each year, the event brings together top drivers, manufacturers, and fans for a week of competition, innovation, and off-road culture."

This 20th anniversary event drew a crowd of 80,000 spectators between January22nd to February7 and is held in Johnson Valley, California.

 

[sam_adams]

Lotus pioneered active suspension in 1980-ish on the Lotus Esprit Turbo. It was used on their F1 cars for years in the early Eighties. One description of the system, from one of the car mags back then, was that the Esprit was literally able to 'leap' over potholes in the road and corner with a 'flat' attitude in slalom testing. Early Chenowth Baja racers had some amazing suspensions for their time for off-road racers built from old VW chassis.

 

[CDMC]

They are not active suspensions. They are bypass shocks which are extremely digressive to allow big hits to be absorbed while maintaining chassis control. The trophy trucks that run them have 24-36 inches od suspension travel.

https://www.f150online.com/articles/trophy-truck-tech-bypass-shock/

 

[Bruce Morgen]

Feel better ASAP Amir -- do it, this is not a drill!

 

[DanielT]

Get well Amir.

Regarding the dirt rally cars and their suspension. It works but of course it needs to be replaced often, or frequently and thoroughly serviced.Parts wear out quickly:
(Gemini AI)

This is where it wears down really quickly:

 

[Redacted]

Amir should add the "Put it in the car's boot/trunk test" to his normal suite.

 

[MrPotatoHead]

More suspension porn: Mustang GTD

 

[Chr1]

Get well soon Amir!

Low unsprung mass is key.
(Plus general lightness all round.)

Proper suspension setup is also very important obviously... The ability of the suspension to "float" over bumps. There are always compromises here.

 

[CapMan]

Don't tell Danny - I'm sure he'll come up with some performance improvements

Get well soon