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Front Suspension When I had to choose the front suspension for the Panther I decided that conventional A-arms was the way I need to do it. A single seat car is narrow and does not require many special configurations to work well.
It is easy for the home builder to understand and not too tough to explain. The arms can be long enough to get some decent wheel travel without having to make the car too wide. Keep in mind that the Panther was always intended to be an affordable kart to build and operate, so many features you will see in outside references are not included in my design. In the picture below are the Panther conventional arms. They are simply triangles that extend straight out from the frame. Click on the image for drawings and definitions.  Below is a picture I took of a desert race car leaving the starting line in Rock Point Mexico. I am unsure of who built it, but the arms are not conventional in that the leading edge tube extends out form the front center of the car, and the trailing edge tube runs back to the side of the car. Arms configured this way are sometimes referred to as Monahan arms. They are very popular. My opposition to this set up is that the tire is moved in a forward direction while moving up from full droop. |
