topgear:Top Gear drives the DeltaWing! - BBC Top GearThis is a brilliant article full of tidbits abo

topgear:Top Gear drives the DeltaWing! - BBC Top GearThis is a brilliant article full of tidbits about physics and tech, and what it’s like to drive Road Atlanta:What’s the DeltaWing like to drive?Well, it doesn’t do what you expect. This is a very good thing. Everything you know about cars shaped like triangles tells you that it must be hideously unstable and, with that narrow front, very prone to understeer. It must therefore handle like a Robin Reliant. But the DeltaWing is neither unstable, nor lacking grip at the front end. The physics behind this is simultaneously simple and yet difficult to get your head around. Basically (very basically), tyre grip is matched to weight and since the front of the car has no weight, it needs comparatively less grip. Ben Bowlby, the man whose brainchild the DeltaWing is, proved this by picking the nose up.He did what?Lifted the front of the car clean off the ground. By himself. But the front only accounts for 28 per cent of the DeltaWing’s sub-500kg kerbweight, so the front wheels can be as narrow as those fitted to an old 2CV. Literally. In fact the spare tyres they use when pushing the DeltaWing around the paddock are old 2CV tyres. -- source link

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