Someone made the car I've built in my head for years.....

[RickM]

Well at least someone made a concept model.
FWIR a designer suggested this configuration for Formula 1. Needeless to say his idea didn't get much backing.

http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/concept-cars/index.php





"Jurists of the Peugeot Design Competition have selected a group of concepts as finalists,... an open-wheel roadster — called the “bodyboard” — that’s driven lying down...... The Vegas odds, if not the odds of Peugeot actually producing the thing, are on the Bodyboard. (Just considering how the DOT crash tests would turn out make it worth nominating).

[Overpaid Slacker]

Cool. From the pix, it looks like you take a modern motorcycle body (like an R1 or an MV Agusta), "prone" it out and attach suspension.

How does the a/c work?

JP

[stomachmonkey]

That would make for a cool racing series if you could make them cheap enough.

Scott

[RickM]

I'm curious how the steering works. Manually manipulating those big meats with motorcycle style handlebars seem impossible.

Actually my latest thoughts were to modify an existing shifter cart configuration.

[}{arlequin]

imagine the head rush when you slam on the brakes??!!

I like the first Aprilia pic on that site... great for 1st dates

[arcsine]

It has been long known that the prone position is superior for response and proprioception (how the body senses movement).

Bet it would be a hoot.

[kach22i]

Originally posted by Gary Carlton
It has been long known that the prone position is superior for response and proprioception (how the body senses movement).

And yet only the Wright brothers used it in their first few flights. it never caught on , even in jet aircraft.

Then there is this little guy.

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/fta/fta198.htm

Northrop's Rocket Wing MX324 was America's first military rocket airplane. Its first flight, possibly the world's first military rocket plane flight, was made in 1944. Its wing span was less than 30 feet, and the plane emplyed the new principles of rocket propulsion and of a prone cockpit. The prone cockpit enabled the pilot to lie flat to withstand higher accelerations and also made possible a thinner air foil. It was powered by an Aerojet XCAL-200 rocket motor.

Don't expect to see "prone" position in a car, if it's not even used in a plane. I wonder if "prone" has a double meaning here?

[SpeedracerIndy]

I don't know how comfortable I'd be having my bits and pieces that close to the ground rushing under me at over 100 mph. I guess at that speed if you wreck you wouldn't need them anyway.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Prone is great for acceleration, sucks for deceleration. And most 4-wheeled race vehicles decelerate much better than they accelerate.

[BigD9146gt]

Originally posted by Overpaid Slacker

How does the a/c work?

JP

I assume lift your head..

Although it looks cool, it would suck to drive. The rotating mass on the rims, no matter how light you make them, is a big factor with the obvious limited power these will make. From the pictures, they only have enough room to put a Briggs 50cc motor in there. Plus you cannot see round the tires... Plus the neck aches! Its not like a motorcycle where you can rest upright for a few seconds before you go back to a prone position.

I would set the driver in the typical seated position, and put some low profile 15" on there. With the driver seated normaly, you have the hight to place a V twin or inline 4 behind them. Then its the same as the F1 design, which go figure, is the best so far.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

I'll have my legs snap before my neck, thank you very much

[stomachmonkey]

Well the position does not seem to bother these guys, cool sport. I love watching them climb around on these things.



Now this one is a new one to me and I just have one question,

WHY?

[Superman]

I don't know computers and graphics, so I cannot illustrate this idea, but what if a vehicle's center of gravity were below the axle? Imagine a caricaturized drawing where the wheels are LARGE. Imagine a straight axle, and the rest of the vehicle suspended UNDER the center of the axle? When that vehicle corners, inertia is going to try to tip the axle to the INSIDE of the turn. Thereby possibly keeping weight distribution from shifting so thoroughly to the outside wheels.

Whadda think? Am I inventing something that everyone else has figured out. You know, I invented the snap-on toothpaste tube cap. Unfortunately, I didn't do anything about it. Someone else did.

[kach22i]

Originally posted by Superman
Am I inventing something that everyone else has figured out.

I've read that's it's been done before. The results were not promising, can't recall the details.

Born in the wrong century........................the "Century of Invention" has passed, welcome to the "Century of Deception".