Quote:
Originally Posted by ZDan
Of course they'd "engineer it". But there is no getting around the fact that a fixed shear panel is by far the most efficient way to get the required chassis stiffness. Remove this and you have to add *a lot* more structure (mass) to get the same stiffness. Analogy: take a shoebox with the lid securely in place. Quite stiff. Remove the lid and try to get back the same stiffness by adding thickness to the bottom and sides of the box. You'll have to add a whole lot more weight in cardboard to get even close...
|
Don't forget that the doors don't really give much rigidity either since, you know, they open.
Top Gear portrays it as 2 bricks joined by 2 playing cards. 1 at the top and 1 at the bottom. Take the top away and see how flimsy it is.
Of course there's some ridge along the bottom of the door (check out a lotus to see how big theirs is) for added rigidity so really it's somewhere between the 2 analogies.