Rear shock placement

[Norm Peterson]

I hope that I'll be given a little latitude here, and that after this the thread can go back to topic without being locked. It seems that I've been publicly questioned as to credentials. I think I need to make a public response to set the record straight, and it will be best noticed by the appropriate individual right here. Spanky, feel free to e-mail me if you care to discuss this further.

Line item style just so that we can stick to things topic by topic . . .

man norm you see to disagree with everything steve smith writes.have you ever read any of his books?he has designed inumerable winning race cars.and he gives away good information for the price of a book.

My reading goes well beyond the books of just one person. Just the chassis/tire section of my automotive library is a stack of softcovers 8" deep plus a couple of hardcover titles. On the old board I posted the list, but I'll mention William & Doug Milliken, Fred Puhn , Don Alexander, Carroll Smith, Paul Van Valkenburgh, and Bob Bolles as a few of the authors. Books by Steve Smith would long since have been there too, had I ever found his titles in any of the local bookstores (I have looked specifically for them).

i've never heard of you,can you tell me what cars you build and where they win?do you have any books out that we all might benefit from?

Try to keep in mind that the questions raised in fora such as this one are asking for a variety of opinions from members of varied expertise. Presumably, from the range of responses and the ensuing discussion a better-informed choice will be made.

In the truckarm thread I did hint at my background. I've been an engineer (structural analysis) for nearly 35 years. Engineering teaches you to first get an understanding of things and how they work. Then to make things work efficiently. That becomes an approach to life that you don't lock up in the desk drawer or the tool box at the end of your work day.



What I've been paid to do has been similar enough to chassis and suspension topics that I don't think it's much of a stretch for me to get involved in such discussions. I've committed several automotive engineering topics to spreadsheet solutions, and let me say that doing that forces a deeper understanding of things than just reading somebody else's book.

My cars have all been daily drivers, but I've had some autocross success with them.

My 'published work' consists of posting on forums such as this one. Like most forum members, I imagine. If I rounded up all my 2750+ posts (yes, I do keep track, this one makes it 2759), distilled them all down to discussions of a few separate topics, and had it printed, how would that make any difference?

Why do I feel like I've written a cover letter? Is anybody hiring?

but i think it is time you prove him wrong,not just insist he is.

Help me out here. I'm not too sure what you think I'm claiming that he's all wet about. If it's the lower shock mounting point, I'm coming from the point of view that, in the event of flat tires, hard points should not be permitted to contact level ground. That's a legitimate concern for street-driven vehicles, including PT cars (and a legal one as well, if I'm not mistaken). But it's not necessarily a requirement for a dedicated track car, so this is likely a case where you should not directly transfer a track design right down to the dimensions over to the street.

How about going through my logic and pointing out where I'm making an error, or perhaps not presenting enough information. I'll listen. I might even change my mind, if you bring a well-reasoned explanation (this need not be your own original thoughts, but it does have to be more than just a quoted table or list of numbers without the equations or other data to back them up). And I won't even get *all mad* (hint: you'd probably get yourself banned and put on blood pressure medication before that would happen).

And as an off-topic (but I think relevant) excursion, could you try to teach your keyboard that it's OK to put a space between the end of one thought and the beginning of the next? Let me catch my mental breath between separate items, and let me believe that you're not about ready to spit nails. Try to sound a little more patient, or at least a little less argumentative on a non-technical level.

7.5 below centerline of axle.11-15 deg.staggered if leafs.in front of axle with coil spring.behind axle for coilover.

And what I previously posted completely disagrees with this?

Norm