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2002 Mercedes-Benz F400 Carving Concept

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2002 Mercedes-Benz F400 Carving Concept - Extreme Car Control

Mercedes-Benz, for all intents and purposes a conservative luxury carmaker, has had a history of outlandish concept cars. While few if any will ever see production, building such allows the many talented M-B engineers and designers a chance to get outside of the conventional box and stretch their creative legs, no doubt positively affecting the design and engineering of the brands production cars.

The Mercedes-Benz F400 Carving is just such a vehicle. The Carving name, that relates to downhill skiing, is directly associated with the prototypes unique steering geometry. Like a skier, the front wheels lean into the curve to optimize cornering force, tilting the camber angle up to 20 degrees at full extension.

Together with its specially developed asymmetrical-tread tires the active camber control system provides 30% more lateral stability than conventional fixed camber steering systems, improving safety and performance. In the end the F400 is capable of a maximum lateral acceleration of 1.28 Gs, outperforming the majority of modern sports cars, including Mercedes-Benz own SLK, by about 28%.

And just how does its odd but effective wheel and tire package work? In order to create the largest contact patch possible, necessary for optimal grip, a radical redesign of the cars wheels was necessary. Why? The greater the wheel camber, the smaller the contact patch. Thats why todays sports cars offer nominal wheel travel and extremely rigid suspension systems. The engineers want to reduce lateral movement, especially in the tires sidewall, to a minimum. Think about it. If you tilt a conventional performance tire on a 20 degree camber there wont be much rubber contacting the road, hence the problem. What to do?

DaimlerChryslers engineers rewrote the rule books and developed a completely new type of wheel with two different diameters. The inside rim, which is most in contact with the road when cornering, measures 17-inches, while the outside rim is 19-inches in diameter. The best of both worlds system provides superb straight line stability while offering a much larger contact patch when needed most, in the curves. Interestingly some motorcycle racers have used a V shaped tire to improve the contact patch during high-speed cornering, similarly maximizing the contact patch when leaning the tire. The F400 Carvings tires measure 255/35R19 at their outer edges and 255/45R17 on the inside rim.

The concepts drive-by-wire braking performance is also enhanced due to the steering technology. During an emergency stop, each wheel can be immediately canted to shorten the cars stopping distance from 60 mph by 16.4-feet over conventional braking systems. The fact that carbon-fibre-reinforced ceramic 13.0-inch diameter rotors are used doesnt negatively affect stopping power either. But no matter how large theyd have little effect in standing water, where traditional tires, especially wider, low-profile rubber that is biased for performance, hydroplane. The active camber control system takes care of this problem too however, by adjusting the tires contact patch a few degrees to compensate. This works in tandem with a new sensor that detects water layers on the road surface, measures and sends the information to cars ECU, resulting in an immediate camber change to stabilize the vehicle.

But, being a research car, the Mercedes engineers didnt stop with the F400s active camber control system. Additionally, steer-by-wire technology has been integrated, removing the need of a potentially dangerous steering column while enhancing directional precision. The system incorporates sensors that respond to the drivers steering wheel input and then transmit the information to twin microcomputers that, in turn, produce commands to control the electrically actuated steering gear.