How Does the Driver Control the Car?


  
  


½ The Driver and Car Handling - accelerating,
braking and cornering.
½ From a control point of view, cornering is the
most demanding and interesting for analysis.
½ A new perspective.

Dale Thompson
Racing Car Technology
www.racing-car-technology.com.au
info@racing-car-technology.com.au
Note: In vehicle dynamics terminology, cornering or turning
of the vehicle is referred to as ³yaw´ or ³yawing´ of the
vehicle.
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 =he Weight =ransfer Worksheet
½ In this web site, we recommend to you our spreadsheet calculations, the
Racing Car Technology Weight Transfer Worksheet (WTW). Weight
transfer considerations are now common in procedures for suspension
tuning. Working with race cars over a number of years, we have shown the
WTW can give good results. The WTW remains the only fully tested, fully
documented weight transfer ³calculator´, that anyone can use.
½ But it does not represent how the car works. Some will say at this point,
³How else could it work?´ The predominant view amongst the racing and
performance car community is that handling and control must be about the
weight transfer and chassis roll.
½ At universities all around the world, engineers are now taught the ³single
track model´. The Society of Automotive Engineers have mandated a whole
raft of standards and conventions that allow vehicle dynamics engineers to
talk the same language.
½ Using the ideas, we can gain a truer understanding of oversteer and
understeer. We highlight how the driver controls the car.

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Driver ´Feelµ for the Car
The interaction between the driver and racing car, his feel for the car, is
described by Michael Schumacher (circa 1995),

"You have to have the senses in your whole body, that come up to your
brain, and then, in the end, you have to transfer the information to
the steering wheel. It is how you do this that is the difference
between drivers, between those who are sensitive, who have more
feeling, and those who may be as sensitive but are not able to
transfer that into their driving.³

He expresses a level of uncertainty about whether it is the feeling, or

what you do with it, that counts.

What it is the driver is sensing? How does the driver control the car?
We¶ll start with what happens to the car in a corner. (The following
diagrams are based on the ³single track model´)

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 Cornering ² Very Slow
Copyright C Racing Car Technology 2007

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#
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§ery slow turning, no ³slip
 
angles´ at the tyres. The
curved path of the CofG is
shown. Instantaneous
direction of travel is at right
angles to turn radius, R.
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 Cornering ² Neutral Steer, maintain the
intended path« Copyright C Racing Car Technology 2007




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§ehicle path, Inst. Dir. Of 

Travel, turn radius, R all the  
same as previous diagram.
But now the lateral force 
 


acting on the tyres forces   


³slip angles´,
, front and 
 
rear. The vehicle rotates in
the direction of the turn. #  


The car is now 
˜
 the corner. |



 
 



  
 Cornering ² Oversteer, a tighter path.«
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Copyright C Racing Car Technology 2007








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If slip angles increase at the #


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rear, faster than the front, the car
will rotate further in the direction w

of the turn, increasing the 
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attitude angle, |. The turn
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radius, R will shorten as shown.
˜
The vehicle will steer a tighter
path, as shown.
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 Cornering ² Understeer, a wider path«.
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Copyright C Racing Car Technology 2007


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If slip angles increase at the

front, faster than the rear, the
car will rotate out of the turn,
reducing the attitude angle.
Turn radius, R is lengthened, #

as shown. The vehicle will 

steer a wider path as shown.  
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Gttitude Gngle at the Centre of Gravity

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malanced, or unbalanced lateral forces at
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Oversteer and Understeer
½ Maximising grip at all four tyres is the initial aim. So tyre
selection, temps, pressures, cambers, toe etc are of
prime importantance. But because of the transient
nature of handling, (corner entry, mid corner, exit), it also
works out we also maximise overall grip with attention to
spring frequency - springs, ARB¶s and shocks controlling
ride, roll pitch rate.
½ But suspension tuners also have to be able to balance
the car for oversteer/understeer - grip of the front wheel
pair versus grip of the rear wheel pair as per previous
slides. Ideally we look to ³stick the loose end´ so as to
increase overall grip. Sometimes that cannot be done.
So for example, we might choose a compromise balance
that optimises corner exit acceleration at the expense of
some mid corner grip.
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What·s ahead in the =echnical Pages?
½ The article further explores the notion of the attitude angle being the
primary source of feedback to the driver. The driver can feel the
change in attitude of the car, over and above the expected attitude
angle generated by the vehicle when in neutral steer. The driver is
extremely sensitive to the car balance, but largely unaware of overall
grip. But give him/her a little extra grip and he will use it and go
faster, while reporting the car unchanged.
½ Although a very intuitive concept for drivers, it remains largely
ignored by mainstream suspension tuners and race engineers. This
may be because of the difficulty of constructing a reasonable, easy
to understand model. By taking a new perspective on understeer
and oversteer, as per the diagrams in this intro, we offer a model
that can predict and explain the motion of the car.
½ To get the full article, please subscribe on the front page of our web
site. Or contact me direct about subscribing without using Paypal, if
you prefer. info@racing-car-technology.com.au

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