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Golden Ratio in Car Design?

Discussion in 'General Automotive Discussion' started by James_Woods, Apr 8, 2008.

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  1. James_Woods

    James_Woods F1 World Champ

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    #1 James_Woods, Apr 8, 2008
    I have a couple of books on the math constant PHI (ration called "Golden Section").

    It is that point on a line segment which divides the line into two parts - such that the ratio of the longer sub-segment to the shorter is the same ratio as the total line to the longer segment.

    It has long been debated back and forth that many medieval artists (and before that, the Greek classical architects) used this ratio to create rectangles that were in perfect proportion and thus were most pleasing to the eye.

    One of the engineers saw these books on my shelf yesterday, and we started a discussion. A flash of light came upon me and I started looking up several classic sports cars - and, guess what?

    Many of them have a wheelbase to track ratio which very much approximates the PHI - 1.618...

    An example or two:

    The Porsche Cayman: 95.1" / (average 58.4 F/R) = 1.63
    My Testarossa: 100.8 / (average 60.3 F/R) = 1.67 (well, OK - it always DID look a little wide)

    Just one more thing to consider the next time I pick out a new ride?
     
  2. teak360

    teak360 F1 World Champ

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    #2 teak360, Apr 8, 2008
    It's a revelation to learn how much of the natural world is defined by this ratio.
     
  3. wax

    wax Five Time F1 World Champ
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    #3 wax, Apr 8, 2008
    Thank you for bringing my favorite obsession to the fore. Golden Ratio is the secret to mimicking nature, ain't it?


    One one two, three five eight
    Sounds so simple, nothing great
    Thirteen, twenty-one, thirty-four
    The hinges creak on an opening door
    A repeating pattern of the masters hand
    Signing his work, the universal plan
    Learn to look, the pattern's plain to see
    In the smile you flash, the dance of the honeybee
    In the spirals of the pine cone and little acorn cap
    In spiral arm galaxies and the ocean's wave whitecap
    In the swirl of the seashell, the air vortex of a wing
    The hurricane's eye and a thousand unseen things
    Welcome to the mystery of the Greek letter phi
    The measurement of beauty to the human eye
    The golden ratio, one point six one eight
    One, One, Two; Three, Five Eight

    -Benjamin Moon
     
  4. James_Woods

    James_Woods F1 World Champ

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    #4 James_Woods, Apr 8, 2008
    Wax, have you been counting rabbit babies again?
     
  5. wax

    wax Five Time F1 World Champ
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    #5 wax, Apr 8, 2008
    Are two or more rabbits called Rabbi?
    Easter Bunny + Biblical Rabbi = coincidence?
     
  6. James_Woods

    James_Woods F1 World Champ

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    #6 James_Woods, Apr 8, 2008
    I really don't know - but wasn't it Yogi Berra that once said "it's just too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence"?

    BTW, more than one Bunny are Bunnie; and they can beat you for all your money at bumper pool.
     
  7. robert_c

    robert_c F1 Rookie

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    #7 robert_c, Apr 8, 2008
  8. headtennisviabmw

    headtennisviabmw Rookie

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    #8 headtennisviabmw, Apr 9, 2008

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