Jolle wrote: ↑17 Aug 2018, 22:43
And, probably more on the front wheels, but brake feels is quite important too. The more distance and axle length you put between the brake and the wheel, the more elastic is will become and the less feel/control you'll have.
All in all, the small benefits of having less sprung weight and less torsional forces on the suspension arms/wishbones outweigh the downsides in feel/control, aero and stress on the driveshafts.
Since the braking currently is by wire and a lot of the braking is performed by the ERS which even has a longer path via the diff i wonder whether that argument is not overvalued.
For the fronts yes, but for the rears I get the impression that most of the feeling is done by clever electronics.
Main question what is the benefit. Here I fully agree, the brake is what 1.5-2kg's? That seems hardly worth the effort on a 11kg wheel and partly lost in beefing up the driveshaft. Aero wise you eliminate the intakes at the wheel, but you have to get the cooling air volume from somewhere else.
The only thing I could think off which makes some sense (to me) is to move the suspension inside the wheel, like in the active wheels. That would eliminate some of the suspension arms and clean up the flow over the back. But I honestly have no idea what the consequences are for the ride characteristics.