RS suspension college project

[MyChemical172]

Hi folks,
I'm doing a project for college and the topic is vehicle suspension and Renault Sport. It's very basic but I need to include some technical data in it. I find it hard to put into words, we all know that Clio cars offer amazing handling but what actually makes them better at it than other cars?
I'd appreciate all sort of input and remarks on caster/ camber, steering, modifications, anything technical.
I know what suspension is and what job it does in a car, just looking to explain why it's so special on these cars (Any Renault Sport cars, not necessarily the clio). Even your own examples, what you have upgraded and why, the sort of stuff. I'm gonna talk about my own adjustable dampers 🤭
Also does anyone know, has there been any solutions adapted straight from motorsports that found use in our cars??
Anywhere in the history of Renault Sport. My lecturer is really fond of that kind of curiosities.

 

[Kev@KAM]

I think in simple terms they get a good balance between grip, chassis weight, suspension stiffness and front rear weight balance.
If you measure a Renaultsport car vs its competitors you may find a pattern with roll centre front and rear, or wishbone length vs damper rate, damping rates front and rear or maybe even down to chassis stiffness. Some of it will be that the Renault sport models differ from their lower spec models with suspension design

 

[MyChemical172]

I think in simple terms they get a good balance between grip, chassis weight, suspension stiffness and front rear weight balance.
If you measure a Renaultsport car vs its competitors you may find a pattern with roll centre front and rear, or wishbone length vs damper rate, damping rates front and rear or maybe even down to chassis stiffness. Some of it will be that the Renault sport models differ from their lower spec models with suspension design

Awesome, thank you lots! Gives me a lot to talk about, and to be fair for my level it'll be more than enough 😁

 

[Martin_172]

a few things worth exploring or looking into:
The base cars that the RenaultSport models are based on are generally nice handling cars, so starting with a good chassis design is always a good start.

The constant evolution of the cars, ph1 172, ph2 172, 172 cup, 182, 182 cup, 182 trophy, 197, 197 R27, 197 Cup, 200, 200 Cup etc etc. they are constantly evolving the setup of the car and adjusting to what the market/journalists are looking for.

then with the MK3 Clio RS / Megane RS you have the perfohub setup, that was game changing and radically different to what hot hatches of the time were using

 

[Kev@KAM]

Didnt Ford release the Revo-hub on the ST225 in 2005? I have a feeling it was originally used on the Toyota Celica even earlier

 

[loggyboy]

Didnt Ford release the Revo-hub on the ST225 in 2005? I have a feeling it was originally used on the Toyota Celica even earlier

I though it was a Lotus design from the the 90s Elan?

 

[RSRowe]

Didnt Ford release the Revo-hub on the ST225 in 2005? I have a feeling it was originally used on the Toyota Celica even earlier

2009 when the Focus RS came out. The ST used the conventional arrangement

 

[PhillipM]

I mean the revoknuckle and similar pretty much just came about because of power and weight levels requiring less offset than a normal strut could give. It's not particularly revolutionary, it'd been around a long time before it just gave little in the way of advantage for more complexity at the times.

The main thing Ford and Renault did was slap a fancy marketing name on it. Pretty sure it was on some Renaults before the Ford even, I remember commenting on it at the time when Ford fans were going nuts over it.

 

[loggyboy]

I though it was a Lotus design from the the 90s Elan?

Late 80s infact.

 

[Kev@KAM]

I mean the revoknuckle and similar pretty much just came about because of power and weight levels requiring less offset than a normal strut could give. It's not particularly revolutionary, it'd been around a long time before it just gave little in the way of advantage for more complexity at the times.

The main thing Ford and Renault did was slap a fancy marketing name on it. Pretty sure it was on some Renaults before the Ford even, I remember commenting on it at the time when Ford fans were going nuts over it.

Toyota called their design the Superstrut so probably wins the naming competition (however its actually a different design completely)

 

[loggyboy]

Toyota called their design the Superstrut so probably wins the naming competition (however its actually a different design completely)

Quite an interesting one.

TOYOTA DEVELOPS NEW FRONT-END SUSPENSION SYSTEM | Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION today announced that it has developed a new front suspension system for front-engine, front-wheel drive cars that greatly enhances vehicle performance in high-speed straight-line driving, turning, lane-changing, and emergency maneuvering.

global.toyota

All based on the same principle though, get the kingpin inclination (close to) in line with the steering axis.

 

[PhillipM]

Late 80s infact.

View attachment 1567963

That's a psuedo double wishbone the same as many FWD cars, not really the same thing.