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What Bits Keep Me on the Road?
What does keep a car on the road?
When you have a one-to-two tonne large metal object travelling down a road at speed, what are the bits that enable the car to remain in control and in contact with the road? Yes, the driver is able to steer the car in the right direction when guiding the vehicle via the steering mechanism and the steering wheel, but there are other very important components in a car’s suspension that work in unison to hold the car on the road and keep the ride comfortable.
A suspension on a car is hugely important in that it separates the car’s occupants from the road and smooths out the ride over the bumps in the road. A car’s springs absorb the bumps, and they come in three types: coil springs, torsion bars and leaf springs.
Shock absorbers (or dampers) have two main functions. They also work to absorb any big bumps in the road so the speed at which the upward direction of the wheel over the bump is absorbed or slowed down. Shock absorbers also push the wheel back down onto the road to keep the wheel planted on the road for maximum grip. Shock absorbers also have plenty of upward and downward travel to ride the wheel up and over bumps or drop the wheels down into holes.
Also an integral part of the suspension, are the rubber grommets which separate a lot of the parts of your suspension from each other. Obviously, they also hold components together and thus the rubber grommets link an A-Arm with the sub-frame or are used on anti-roll bar links and mountings for example. The harder the material make-up of the bushes, then the harder the ride becomes for the occupants in the cabin.
Suspension types are mainly grouped as being dependent and independent. However, even independent systems are typically joined across the car by an anti-roll bar and so are not truly independent. Independent suspensions are named because their same axle wheel’s suspension systems are independent of each other.
A hydrolastic suspension is a suspension system where the front and rear suspension systems are connected together in order to keep the car level when driving over bumps. The front and rear suspension units have hydrolastic displacers, one unit per side. A hydrolastic suspension provides a nice soft ride, and the hydrogas suspension is an evolution of the hydrolastic suspension. The Hydropneumatic suspension is a fabulous hydro-linked system used by Citroen where the suspension includes the brakes and steering as well as the suspension itself. The fundamental technology of the Hydropneumatic suspension is hydraulics. The fluid’s interaction with a pressurised gas creates a superbly smooth ride.
A well set up air suspension system can better the mechanised metal spring suspension in most situations. As found in the new BMW cars, the luxurious, smooth and supple ride is superior. It’s also found in large logistics trucks.
With the advent of computer-controlled suspension systems, the anti-roll bar is no longer needed. The computerised system uses sensors to rapidly adapt a car’s suspension to changing road surfaces. Ride height sensors and self-levelling systems mated to the suspension componentry also works to keep the suspension taut and the body roll to a minimum in the corners.
Next time you’re in your car, I’ll bet you’ll be thinking a little more about what the suspension is doing in conjunction with your tyres to keep you on the road. Remember though, the safest way to stay on the road is to keep your speed appropriate to the road conditions.
You might like to shed some more light on the subject. I know that Audi even uses a Magnetic fluid in some of their cars to create a good ride.
New Auto Tech
Cars are evolving quicker than they have ever before, and it’s exciting times for the automobile enthusiast. Innovation and key ideas are rapidly changing the way we do cars. Boasting newer technology to make cars faster, safer, more interactive and more economical can be mostly put down to the evolution in computer technology. However, there are other amazing ways to advance the functions of a motor car.
The Engine Control Unit (ECU) was a bit of computer technology that found its way into the automobile back in the 1970s. Back then the ECU controlled the fuel mix, making cars more economical and more powerful. Now, the ECU provides other stuff like: performance mapping for the engine, fuel efficiency, traction control, automatic night driving lights, activating aerodynamic aids, activation of the windscreen wipers, active safety aids like dynamic stability control and more.
The addition of computerized safety features like lane change warning systems, parking aids and even cruise control with automatic braking is making the task of driving much safer.
BMW’s i8 can be connected to your smartphone, which will show information about the car’s efficiency mapping and battery status. There are a number of cars that you can buy that will even turn on the climate control function, at your command while you’re inside the home or office, before you get into the car on a cold morning.
The Ford C-Max Solar Energi is a tiny people carrier designed by Ford. This little car is the first of its kind to capture the sun’s energy and store or use it. With a roof-mounted solar cell, the unit can gather and store energy, making it the perfect environmentally friendly car. Solar energy is the ultimate for powering your drive.
Another expanding area of auto technology that is advancing is the connectivity features inside a car. New connectivity functions include being able to send and receive texts, tweets and face-book messages through the car’s automated voice system. Checking the weather forecast and streaming your favourite playlists through your car’s audio speakers can easily be done while you’re manoeuvring your way through the traffic. If you’re a parent of a teenager who has borrowed the car, you can now track the car’s progress via a smartphone app.
Driver smartphone apps are set up to monitor the driver’s heartbeat and stress levels while driving the vehicle. A clever app can be used to monitor glucose levels in a diabetic driver. Significant changes in the blood-sugar levels are alerted to the driver so that a correction can be made before the driver does any further driving.
Wireless technology is evolving to the point that vehicle-to-vehicle communication can be used to reduce traffic accidents and congestion. Volvo’s new XC90 models feature automatic brake technology where the XC90 will use radar detection and apply the brakes if an imminent collision is detected. The driver doesn’t even have to make the car brake, as the XC90 does it all – thus avoiding an accident. Queue Assist is another XC90 feature, where the car uses radars to slowly follow the vehicle in front, steering and braking automatically to keep directly behind the leading car.
Satelite Navigation
Are there any other cool new features that you know about? Let us know.
Race Ready
Ever since the motor vehicle has been chugging on the road they have been raced. One of the first races ever was the Paris-Rouen in 1894. The cars had to travel 126 km between two French cities. Simply put; as motorcars developed, so did racing. However, particularly in modern times, you could also say that as motor racing developed, so did the motor car. I enjoy a bit of motor racing, and have occasionally enjoyed watching it trackside. One of the joys of watching the cars race around the circuit is that you can recognise the makes and models of the race cars and associate them with their everyday, road-legal versions. So what’s the difference between the road-going version and its racing cousin? Let’s take a closer look.
A mass-produced road car needs to have its set-up catered toward keeping its occupants comfortable, safe and relaxed on a journey. So, you’ll see the majority of features like a comfortable ride, air-conditioning, premium audio sound, a standard engine geared for economy and leather upholstery inside a mass-produced road car. The race car is usually stripped right back to the bare shell, and therefore lacks all these comfort features to ensure that the race-car remains as light as possible.
Rally cars have to cope with a wide range of road surfaces, and some of the surfaces can be extremely rough. The rally car must be specially prepared with this challenge in mind. All non-essential items are removed from the interior of a rally car. Two seats, a gear lever and a roll cage are the necessary bits you’ll find inside the rally car interior. When it comes to the chassis, the car’s ride height has actually been increased to travel over uneven surfaces more easily. Larger tyres with button studs absorb impact and provide greater grip on loose surfaces. The suspension has been stiffened, and the engine usually has been increased in size to gain greater power at the expense of low fuel economy. Exterior panels are usually steel and alloys in a road-going version, however in the race car these are replaced with fibreglass to reduce weight. All windows are plastic, except for the front windscreen which remains glass – reduction in weight being the reason for this. The Volkswagen Polo R has been the most successful WRC rally car in 2015, so too has the Hyundai and Citroen variants.
If you are into drifting, then the changes made to a car prepared for drifting include: lowering the suspension height to reduce body roll, stiffened anti roll bars, massive power – especially to the rear wheels, very quick steering and tyres that can last big slides for lengthy periods.
Obviously, with endurance racing like Le Mans, the cars are extremely aerodynamic, they have quick release wheels, quick to remove bumpers – in case they get damaged, slick tyres, bigger brakes and huge power for high speeds – often well over 320 km/h. A Le Mans car has to travel at high speed for 24 hours with minimal stops for refuelling and tyre changes.
Motor racing is a hugely lucrative business for car manufacturers because the models of road-going cars that are transformed to a race car are shown off on the race track to a huge proportion of car enthusiasts. If a car manufacturer’s model wins in the weekend, then this success translates to more car sales during the week. It’s pretty simple really.
Race-ready Porsche 911
Catching Suspects
You know, there’s heaps of cool technology that will be used (if not already in use) in the automotive scene. Yes, there’s all the on-board safety wizardry that helps to keep you and others safe on the road. And, there’s Voice Control, satellite navigation and other infotainment systems on-board a lot of new cars. But what is pretty amazing is some of the new technology that Police will use for catching, say, a car thief.
Catching car criminals or even any criminal travelling in a car seems like a tough job and is all about speed, right? Well actually, there might be an easier way. Here is some of the high-tech ways for catching a suspect that Police can or will employ.
- Already seen in action, the CCTV camera is used for keeping a watch on an area and will often capture vital video evidence which can then be used in a court appearance.
- Funnily enough, the police are up-on-the-play with social media posts, and often the social media can be used for investigations. Police have their own software that scans all social media channels, and this scanning can be used to find out important times and locations of an offence. Facebook does reveal a lot!
- You may be well aware of the amazing stuff that drones can do. In fighting crime, police can use drones for surveillance, and any police officer can remotely control the drone from a distance. This is a very easy way of following a fleeing suspect, and the action can be seen as it happens by an officer in a car or back at headquarters.
- As a vehicle owner, you could subscribe to a service like OnStar which is a system capable of tracking your car if stolen. What’s more, it could be used to remotely disable your vehicle and shut down the engine. All you need to do is let the police know that your car has been stolen, and then OnStar does the rest.
- Police cars can be equipped with GPS Dart technology, which basically fires a small GPS tracker from the nose of the police vehicle so that it sticks onto the vehicle needing to be tracked. They can then plan how to catch and apprehend the suspect whilst tracking the suspect’s whereabouts.
- Already in action, police cars are equipped with automated license plate scanners. This technology is effective in catching those drivers that are driving a car that has failed its inspection or has a registration license that has lapsed. These scanning cameras can scan literally thousands of license plates per hour.
I have been pulled over by a police car that has used their scanning equipment on my car’s license plate. I wondered why it was following me so slowly for a time. I found out that my registration had expired on my trailer.
Level 2, 9 Help Street