That's the 'argument from authority' logical fallacy. At least present it as a quote from someone, not as though it's an accepted consensus.
<shrug> I'd disturb Keith Helfet and ask him via email, if I thought this was worth bothering him about (though I'm not sure if the last email address I have for him still works). He designed the XJ220, and has commented that the reason the 220 is so long (it has almost a meter of dead space between the end of the transaxle and the back of the car and has a really long overhang) is because the driver-aids-less 220 needs the length for stability while cornering at speed.
Besides, IIRC, I mentioned before that my source was Murray, back in the 9x04 discussion.
I seem to remember you commenting on that thread as well, and I didn't think I needed to repeat *everything*, since you'd seen it before.
Oh well, guess I can't expect that from a *Corolla* driver.
:lol:
Murray puts the F1 above everything, if a car doesn't follow the ideology of the F1 then it is inferior to him. Though he does say the Veyron has more lag than he would like and that it's heavy and wide, he does say the handling is excellent.
I think the show I saw was the counterpart to that interview. He seemed to like the Veyron and was just commenting (on the show, I think it was one of those "Greatest" things the BBC cranks out, I'll have to go look and see if I still have it) that the chassis wasn't very stable.
Bugatti themselves say that without the rear wing, the car would spin out over 100mph - which implies instability. Source:
http://i.abcnews.com/GMA/popup?id=1405184&contentIndex=1&page=12&start=false
One of the reasons that I'm so interested in this part of chassis dynamics is because in the conversion of the XJS to the XK8, something changed - the early X100 XKRs (one of which I used to own) tend to be a bit tail happy with the aids on, and a LOT tail happy with the aids off. It's not snap oversteer like the 'widowmaker' Porsche 930s, but it's definitely wanting to hang the tail out - which the parent XJS *didn't*. A bunch of people on the Jag forum I was on (including some actual retired chassis engineers from Europe and the US) spent quite a bit of time discussing chassis dynamics and how wheelbase vice track affects handling in various regimes. Bottom line from the guys who used to do it for a living - don't make a square car (one in which track and wheelbase are identical or near so) if you want to corner fast and stably. Of course, driver aids can change all that - its the same thing with the F-16 fighter. The F-16 is aerodynamically unstable; without the computers' flight inputs to keep the thing going where the pilot wants it, it's uncontrollable - but instability is the handmaiden of maneuverability.
. the race was pretty cool, i think it would have been better if they shortened it and threw some challenges in to mix it up a bit. good episode though
