I know you're all recoiling in disgust at the title of this thread, but I digress.
So I've been called out before for my pie in the sky thinking on these forums a few times. My opinions on how a FSAE car should be built range from the extreme Keep It Simple, Stupid to the opposite extremely labor intensive and expensive, usually to problems that don't actually end up existing. This is on the extreme KISS side.
My idea is instead of using shocks and springs, what about pushrod actuated leaf springs. I'm not trying to come off as a complete idiot, but Corvettes use leaf springs, and so do the blade runners in the Paralympics. Since a lot of teams have their suspension mounted inboard, sort of near the centerline of the car; why not have carbon fiber blades in there, weighing less and taking up less space? If you had a football shape or an elliptical shape mounted longitudinally, it would take up almost no room and weigh nothing.
I'm sure there are a lot of kinematics I don't understand that will affect all of this, but leaf springs worked well for Ben-Hurr and Bullitt. Also, while it would be less tunable,the tuning would be built in, yet they would not be hard to manufacture, and with how simple I'm imagining this setup, replacing the blades for tuning purposes wouldn't be a huge loss.
And to all those guys who love the brown cart ideas, what's simpler than leaf springs?