Vehicle Dynamics & Data Acquisition 3 Day Seminar

The automotive industry is an extremely competitive business. It is not only about finding the correct setup, it is also about understanding why a setup change is working or not working, and knowing how to quantify this advantage. It is about understanding how, why and how much certain factors affect vehicle behavior, rather than relying on experience and intuition. Perhaps most importantly, it is about knowing how to reduce the time and money spent on the track to find the best setup.

Learn how to:

make the most of your data
be a more efficient trouble shooter
relate driver feedback to logged data
improve driver and chassis performance
increase your understanding of tires, springs,anti-roll bars, dampers, weight transfer,aerodynamics,over/understeer, roll centers and much more
use data acquisition to understand, analyze, predict and improve car handling

The seminar is presented with more than 500 animated color slides and films. Many examples of vehicle setup and practical experience are shown, both successful and unsuccessful.

All examples are displayed using the MoTeC Interpreter 2 software, however all performance data, car and driver style analysis and math functions are adaptable in any data acquisition software.

Who Should Attend

vehicle engineers and vehicle design engineers
data acquisition technicians
racecar components fabricators
high performance vehicle technicians
racecar component specialists
team owners and team managers
technical managers for race teams and car manufacturers
students in Formula SAE/Student programs
automotive specialists in aerodynamics, simulation, finite element analysis, electronics etc.
drivers and team managers who want to communicate more effectively with their engineers
data acquisition specialists, race engineers, crew chiefs, chief mechanics who want to upgrade their skills
personnel involved in carrying out vehicle dynamics analysis and development of high performance vehicles

Topics

Definitions and Terminology

Why do you put camber on your car? A simple question, but not always a simple answer. Understanding the interactions between basic parameters such as track, wheelbase, roll, pitch, yaw, camber, caster and KPI will allow you to see how, why and how much each of these factors influence your car’s handling.

Dampers

Learn how to use your dampers to control your car’s balance in the transition phase of the corner and to maintain optimum tire contact on surfaces such as bumps and curbs. Improve your car’s performance using damper information taken from your data acquisition system.

Data Acquisition

With five basic sensors you can get as many as 60 different types of valuable information about your car’s handling and improve your setup accordingly. Learn how to use sophisticated sensors like lasers, infrared and strain gauges, and how to cope without them. Discover the secrets of the "Magic Numbers" that data acquisition can give you and how to find ultimate performance.

The Nature of Performance

When cars are separated by only a few tenths of a second, you can’t improve performance with a trial and error strategy. Racing in this modern era is about understanding why your car works or does not. It is about deciding which direction to take in your setup change and how far to go in this change. Formula cars, powerful V8 sedans or rally cars - whatever your car and whatever data acquisition system you use, this seminar will help you to understand racecar dynamics and will teach you how to read data in order to make quick decisions and get a fast, safe and reliable racecar.

Kinematics

Camber, caster and track variations, bump steer, roll center movements, anti squat and anti dive, pro or anti Ackerman geometry: your car’s performance can be dramatically improved by changing your geometry by only a few millimeters.

Dynamics

Understand the differences between elastic and geometric weight transfers, and calculating the effects of inline and lateral acceleration, and their influence on racecar handling. See the advantages and dangers of using bump rubbers. Learn how to measure and predict the effect of setup change on vehicle handling using data reading.

Aerodynamics

Understand drag, down force, aero balance, drafting and the influence of weather conditions. Learn how to use your data acquisition system to measure aerodynamic effects and get the best of it.

Forces and Characteristics of Tires

Ultimately a racecar’s performance and its balance is entirely dependant on the grip each tire can offer. Learn how the camber, the vertical load, the tire pressure, the slip angle and many other factors influence your car’s handling.