[Mr. Wyndham]

Power Hop

Axle Tramp
What is "power hop" or "axle tramp"? There isn't a short answer to this question in technical terms but, in the real-world sense, it's an annoying oscillation of the drive wheels (thumping vibration) that occurs when you're trying to impress your friends with a burnout.

The end result of severe power hop is giving up on ever achieving a decent 0–60 time and never being able to put a pair of black stripes down Woodward Avenue in August.

In technical terms, power hop or axle tramp is the excitation of the driveline (prop shaft, differential, and drive axles) causing the rear suspension to be excited into resonance. The technical answer to how we combat this problem can include many factors but, in the end, we need to balance the frequency of the rear suspension in its "hop/tramp" mode and the torsional stiffness of the driveline components. The problem with doing these two things is that they tend to drive the cost and mass of the driveline components far beyond its requirements. There should be a better way to do this, because the customer won't necessarily see any advantages; in fact, the extra mass will negatively effect fuel economy, throttle response, and performance.

A Nice Little Secret
For those of you who have read about the new ZR-1 Corvette (very limited availability in late summer 2008), you may have noticed some obscure mentions of the wizardry within the driveline system to improve launch feel, the Asymmetric Drive Axles. What are they? Simply put, one axle has a larger diameter than the opposite axle.

The mechanics of how this works are presently a nice, little GM engineering secret, but it's safe to say that the development that took place on the ZR-1 has been adapted to the Camaro project and will be introduced when the car is launched.

So is power hop on Camaro a thing of the past? That's the plan!
— Andrew D. Holmes