A standard buggy with turnbuckles instead of shocks - no, can’t see it working at all for reasons quoted above.
However, if the indoor track was fairly smooth with no big jumps you might get away without shocks if you introduced some other type of suspension and damping. I can’t personally think of anything that is going to work as well as a shock but it does not mean it is not out there – just have to question why you would want to get rid of something that works well.
There are instances of successful cars that were a bit more radical and different from the accepted norm though. Back in the day of rough riders, holiday buggies and kyosho scorpions, there was a Bolink Digger buggy (think it was run by some of the early Schumacher team drivers but I might be making that bit up) which had a fibre-glass chassis, solid rear axle and limited suspension – almost a pan car with buggy wheels. On the smoother tracks it was a real winner right up to National level as it was a lot lighter and more efficient than the opposition. Mate had one and he used to dominate locally when we ran on smooth tracks until we moved to a much rougher club track and his Dad spent ages trying to improve the suspension which usually ended up weakening it and he would go home with a car in two bits when the rear pod fell off!! Don’t think a solid axle would be legal now and lack of power is not really an issue so advantage would not be there.
Good to see people thinking outside the box, though.
Rob
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