Why a sway bar, heave spring, and wheel springs?

A place to discuss the characteristics of the cars in Formula One, both current as well as historical. Laptimes, driver worshipping and team chatter do not belong here.
jcorsico
jcorsico
1
Joined: 18 Mar 2011, 23:25
Location: New York, NY

Re: Why a sway bar, heave spring, and wheel springs?

Post

roy928tt wrote:
15 May 2019, 12:37
Happy to learn.

So, have we come to the conclusion that having all 3 "springs" is beneficial?
No. We've concluded that individual wheel springs are redundant if you have an ARB and heave spring. You do not need them for tuning or performance purposes. The reason they are used is for things like convenience (easy to change).

User avatar
humble sabot
27
Joined: 17 Feb 2007, 10:33

Re: Why a sway bar, heave spring, and wheel springs?

Post

Dedicated heave springs are not commonly seen outside racing series with significant downforce. Running roll springs stiff enough to deal with huge downforce limits your ability to tune your system for mechanical grip.
I think Koeinigsegg is the one exception, and they use it in the rear primarily for tuning pitch during launch and as a useful location for putting their ride height gubbins.

Why be more complicated when monoshock front ends running belville washers for roll resistance work in F3? Because it's limiting in tunability. They act like they have infinitely stiff roll bars, the left tracking the right very tightly. Not so fun when putting two wheels on the red and white.
the four immutable forces:
static balance
dynamic balance
static imbalance
dynamic imbalance