Imagine a car that has inside a system of weights driven by the steering wheel (servo assisted, of course) that slides to the side you take a turn.

When you drive a car and take a sharp turn at high speed, the car tends to lift to the counterside of the curve, to the pint sometimes to get out of control and out of the road.

With the counterweights, the car weight balance slides to the side of the curve, giving the whells that attack the curve more weight to bite on it, so the car "leans" to the jnside of the curve, just like a race bike pilot does
-- noyola, May 18 2009

Of any significant weight, it's gonna take a huge amount of energy to shift it as it'll be "thrown" the opposite direction as you go round the corner. Maybe it'd be easier to move the weights just before the turn and then lock them in place, but unless this was done quite slowly, the whole car would jolt as they're moved.

An easier solution is to just firm up the suspension on one side as you go around, which I believe is what many sports cars do.
-- mitxela, May 18 2009


...or have the car deploy a small 'outrigger' wheel when cornering. This would kill cyclists though so isn't really a good idea.
-- hippo, May 18 2009


some trains and cars already lean to the inner side of the curve, which is much more feasible than having a weight of any import move around in the car.

the upper limit for curve-velocity is not the vehicle falling over, but the tires losing traction, nowadays.
-- loonquawl, May 18 2009


There is some merit in the idea of biasing weight to the inside of the curve.

The 'grip' offered by each tyre does not increase in direct proportion to the weight on that tyre, hence wider tyres for sports cars.

If you can even out the loading between the inboard and outboard tyres, you will gain some grip.

This is ususally achieved by lowering the car's centre of gravity.

Incidentally, body roll is used to positive effect in most cars by linking it to parameters such as camber gain and roll steer.
-- Twizz, May 18 2009


Good point mixtela.

Thanks Twizz. Maybe the problem appointed by mixtela can be sorted out by the design of the couter balancers.

Imagine this: it`s a weight or a series of weights that lie flat on a screw-like bar. they can be moved about twisting this bar swiftly- form ledft to right. all we need isd a fast electric or servo to move this.

we can also make the suspention lower half the car into the curve (a speed sensor will be needed)
-- noyola, May 18 2009


The latest greatest sports cars have suspensions which effectively do this. The wheels on the outside of the turn stiffen and the ones on the inside loosen, keeping the car level if not leaning in to the turn.

But as for the original idea, why not have a ~5 foot long bar on the roof of the car, mounted lengthwise, with a large weight at one end and a pivot at the other powered by a servo. As the car turns the bar swings so that the weight is on the inside of the turn. Only the one motor is needed, it's like a giant windshield wiper on top of your car but with a weight on the end. That would also put it out of the way.
-- DIYMatt, May 18 2009


well first off some guy called Newton wants to talk with you... seems moving the weights produces the equal-and-opposite reaction you're trying to avoid.

Now if you want to shift the weight over *before* the turn begins that's a bit different.

Some high-end vehicles already do this, but it's for passenger perception & comfort, not for road-handling reasons.
-- FlyingToaster, May 18 2009



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