I was reading about the latest (2017) Honda Type-R’s (FWD) suspension the other day and how it’s dual axis strut setup almost eliminates the nasty torque steering effect and I gave it a thought on sophisticated FWD independent suspensions. Honda has added damper forks to optimize the caster angle and reduce the center offset, and a separated knuckle and damper for added flexibility and independent movement of the elements. The arrangement seems to be working great, as Honda Civic Type R currently holds the Nurburgring FWD record. However, all this made me remember Ford’s “RevoKnuckle”, a variation of the MacPherson that was meant to be cheaper to make, and also simpler than double wishbone and multilink suspensions which means lighter. Supposedly, that one offered an amazing reduction of torque steer as well, and it was used on the 2009 Ford Focus RS which featured a high amount of torque (440 Nm) for a FWD. Considering this success, I wonder what happened to the RevoKnuckle as I have not seen it in Ford’s next high-powered FWD models. And then we come to the 2018 Renault Megane RS, the current contender for the Nurburgring FWD record. Renault has been using independent steering axis implementations since 2004 in their RS series, and besides the addition of the limited slip differential and the 4CONTROL system, Renault has added a “damper within damper” unit and has perfected their PerfoHub geometry to reduce kingpin angle offset even further, theoretically achieving an even greater torque and bump steer resistance. Do you know any other highly-sophisticated front suspension implementations that worth a read? Please share. Also, feel free to share your thoughts on the above cars as well. Do you think that the Megane will break the current Nurburgring FWD record?
