Following last week’s insight into the aerodynamic development of its C_Two hypercar, Rimac has detailed the rig-based testing process for the car’s suspension development.
The company says its goal is to build a well-mannered long-distance cruiser, but one that can also hold its own in a track environment; a complex balancing act to achieve. Following a two-year program of virtual development, prototypes of the car have been assessed at suspension supplier KW Automotive’s facilities using the company’s test rigs.
On KW’s four-poster rig, the team can recreate the complete length of travel, full range of frequencies and different damper speeds experienced by C_Two on any given road or race track, based on real-world track data.
The suspension features KW’s solid piston dampers, equipped with electronic adjustment and active ride height control. The company claims that the passive elements of the suspension and the C_Two’s chassis delivered near-perfect results during testing, but fine-tuning of the adjustable elements has allowed its engineers to achieve the final 1% of capability. It claims that adaptive suspension system is so sensitive and fast to act that if sensors on the front axle (the car has a total of seven damper position sensors) detect a high rate of acceleration, the rear suspension will react before the wheels reach the same point on the road.
Klaus Wohlfarth, managing director, KW Suspension, noted, “The suspension system in the C_Two is the most innovative product that we have at KW suspension, and it’s necessary to deliver the broad range of abilities that Mate (Rimac) wants for the C_Two. We’re proud to say that this is the latest partnership between our two brands, and we’ve worked with Mate since the very beginning 10 years ago when we provided the suspension for his all-electric BMW track car that inspired him to start building his own electric hypercars.”
Following these latest tests, the pre-series prototype C_Two will go through another round of physical on-track testing to ensure the simulated behaviour can be recreated in the real world ahead of the start of the final production.
