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[onelapdown]

This picture shows the front suspension of this year's Red Bull car. Note that the lower wishbone appears to be glued directly onto a barge board coming out of the bottom of the monocoque, and has no hinge at all. Clearly the design team have decided that the flex in the component will be enough to provide the suspension travel required, and I'm by no means sure that they are the first team to use this arrangement, but it looks like the most likely cause of their suspension problems.

[bud]

that looks like the attachment to the keel. not new but the construction, shape and the lateral loading is whats making it fragile i rekn.

[7UpJordan]

That connection looks as strong as Massa's title hopes this year.

[texasmr2]

That connection looks as strong as Massa's title hopes this year.

so true! Yes sir that look's to be very fragile and basically a bad design. It may be an optical illusion but that wishbone look's to be stressed already on the outer end, it's bowed up on the outer end right?

[McLaren Fan]

That connection looks as strong as Massa's title hopes this year.

True. And I agree with onelapdown's idea. It was quite a nifty design from Red Bull. Perhaps it could be tweaked slightly. Until then, I think they best go back to more conventional suspension.

[bud]

Here is a pic of the RB3 suspension as you can see it is a very similar concept, its almost a Zero Keel layout

[texasmr2]

Now I understand the concept as maybe the inner connection, within the hub housing, has the 'percepted' movement but I'm really not understanding the 'solid connection point'? That 'wishbone arm' only has ONE adjustment point and basically survey say's one would want as many adjustment point's as possible without adding extra weight, right?

[welshie]

Carbon-fibre is an incredible material, you can easily build in flex points so the material can bend to virtually any angle you wish. However on its own it works an an un-damped spring which is rubbish for suspension as it bounces uncontrollably, so somewhere there must be a damper, and I suspect that there will also be a spring with it. The arms may be designed to flex slightly but this will not be the outright design

[welshie]

However having studied the images more, it could be that the double wishbone acts as the spring and the suspension arms (the 45 degree arms) are only attached to a damper. If thats is, then I can tell you that it really is ingenious!

[stonemonkey]

What on earth are you on about? There is no way you could put the loads through the wishbones. There's something that isn't visible or clear in that top image.

[welshie]

Just saying what I see. And I can't see a pivot point where the wishbones are attached to the car. So if they only have a pivot at the wheel end, then they must be able to flex to allow the suspension to move.

[stonemonkey]

There's no way they'd use the bending properties of carbon fibre or any other material to allow for suspension travel and most definitely not as a spring as that goes completely against how that type of suspension works which is why I say that there's something not clearly shown in that image.

If it was fixed, how would you change the ride height?

[welshie]

I believe they sprinkle it with fairy dust and make a wish

[stonemonkey]

I believe you do.

[welshie]

Nah I'd just adjust the push rod within the nose. Ya know, the bit connected to the spring and damper.