ritzblitz

This is a little off topic but whatever, I don't have access to the off topic section since I didnt refill my membership yet.

Anyway, I just got back from a presentation by representatives from General Motors here at psu. The reps were all involved with the design of the vehicles in different ways.

When it came time for questions, I couldn't help but ask: "Why do you still use leaf springs on the Corvette, other than for heritage reasons?"

Their answer, simply put, was: "We don't know..."

Gotta love it.

V2Rocket

iirc isnt the leaf spring everyone talks about a transverse design running between the rear wheels rather than suspending the axles? the thing does have a transaxle, not a live axle..

PorscheDude1

Correct, only one composite leaf spring. It is lite and it works.

V2Rocket

do they hang the transaxle off of the leafspring? or does it act as like a supplement to the shocks?

white924s

At a company like GM, only a small fraction of the engineers are involved in the design of the corvette, and only a small fraction of those folks handle suspension design. I'm sure heritage has something to do with it, but there's also been some analysis of alternatives I'm sure...you just didn't happen to talk to the people who ran the analysis

I don't mean to sound defensive, but I work for a big company too, and just because the company does x doesn't mean my job involves being knowledgable about x at all...

hacker-pschorr

Bingo

Funny, this thread started in a forum about a sports car with torsion bars

V2Rocket

superbeetle ftw

ritzblitz

Yeah I didnt mean for it to be a serious thread, just a funny thought.

I agree, the suspension setup works and yes, it's a transverse composite leaf spring.

FWIW, the one guy there worked on designing the cylinder heads for the new ZR-1. I'd consider him a corvette engineer and honestly, I think it is a reasonable question to ask someone like that.

genikz

That design probably saves $10 per car over another setup...multiplied by X cars they sell. They're in business to make money and lots of it.

BTW, does anybody know if the ALMS GT2 Corvette's use the factory rear suspension or some form of it? Or is it a full custom race fabrication?

yellowline

Don't you love the irony?

Try turning a corner in a 1st gear, hit a decent bump or crack while turning, and watch a 944 scramble for lack of traction.

Try it in almost any modern car and watch that not happen.

87 944 C

alms vettes use race suspension created by the teams that run the corvette. however like the mustang, because it's not a stock setup it must be approved by the alms at inspection. granted most alms vettes come right from the corvette plant in kentuky. so when you consider it is coming from the factory like that for those cars(and if you know the right people) a buyer can get it on their road car...it's not really a major concern of the alms.

PorscheDude1

Corvettes are designed and built by a division within GM. It is almost its own company. I use the term loosely.

tifosiman

There are two locked boxes. Each contains the other's one and only key. The only way to open the boxes is with the keys. Yet, I am able to open both boxes. How is this possible?

PorscheDude1

You are inside a large box along with the smaller box and a key to that box.
You open the smaller box and inside is the key to the larger box
which you now open from the inside?

tifosiman

Correct.

Moral of the story: Sometimes thinking inside the box is the right thing to do.