Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Fry
The MonoTracer is 12 feet long and its wheelbase is about 10 feet. Of course, handling changes with a passenger on board. The overlap is pretty slight. Another 6 inches in wheel base would eliminate it for most passengers.
The Piper Cub had tandem seating with only the feet and lower calves of the rear person overlapping the front person.
I think overlapping according to your plan it is a good idea for keeping the wheelbase short. Loads of concept cars support your approach.
The side-to-side change of CG that comes with your arrangement can more easily handled than in something like the Aptera, because you are not offsetting the people so far. They had a much wider track than you are planning and still seemed to have handling problems in the last version. They temporarily fixed that at the X Prize, by stiffening the suspension substantially, if I recall. You will probably have the advantage of lower CG.
|
My CG should be something near 12-18 inches off the ground, and pretty far forward. I'm actually not very worried about tipping.
Where did you CG end up?
As for the mono tracer, that is EXACTLY what I am talking about. I only found one pic of someone in the back seat - a little twig of a lady, and she looked pretty scrunched in there, with the driver pretty squeezed up.
I'm a big dude. My lady is not Petite. For her to get into the car, it had better be a LOT more friendly for the passenger then the Mono tracer or a piper cub.
I equate the Piper and the Mono to being sportscar like. My goal is people compare it to a Prius for getting in and out of.