2015-01-24

Rear bump steer



Bump/roll steer check on the rears for the first time, using a laser level on the brake disc and a mirror. I don't know why I haven't done this before. It turned out they (the rears) had quite a lot of toe in bump steer dialled in.

Apparently it is common to set up road cars for understeer and stability by inducing a bit of bump steer - toe in on the rears and toe out on the fronts. On race cars close to zero bump steer is preferred if possible, for maximum absolute grip and less scrub.

I reduced the bump steer by simply switching place of the bump steer spacers and it was significantly reduced. Not quite zero but I leave it there. Now the larger 9mm spacer is up and the smaller 5mm is down - opposite of the top image. (the top image is from the CSR Assembly Guide Supplement document)

I did the fronts for quite some time ago but without the mirror. I must say the mirror method is both simpler and more accurate. The basic idea is to put the laser level on the brake disc and point it forwards or rearwards to a mirror that reflect the beam back to the same point. If the point moves sideways relative to the origin when you raise the wheel - you don't have zero bump steer. Adjust the spacers and repeat.



2015-01-02

Airfoil behind roll cage CFD analysis


Does an airfoil generate downforce when placed behind a roll cage? Since I'm starting to get along with the CFD analysis software I did some more simulations.

The airfoil is a NACA 2312 at 160 km/h with 20° angle of attack. Length ~170 cm, width ~20 cm. As I suck on 3d modelling, none of the models correspond much with the real world. Neither the results probably, but can give an hint of what you could expect.

Without roll cage
Scenario 1 - No roll cage, airfoil 40 cm above trunk
Airfoil downforce: 791 N
Airfoil drag: 282 N
Total downforce: 1810 N
Total drag: 1230 N


40 cm
Scenario 2 - Airfoil 40 cm above trunk
Airfoil downforce: 542 N
Airfoil drag: 174 N
Total downforce: 1482 N
Total drag: 1296 N

50 cm
Scenario 3 - Airfoil 50 cm above trunk
Airfoil downforce: 857 N
Airfoil drag: 268 N
Total downforce: 1742 N
Total drag: 1438 N


Scenario 4 - No airfoil
Total downforce: 738 N
Total drag: 1051 N


Conclusion:

A wide airfoil behind the roll cage does generate downforce, but raising it just a bit increase the effect dramatically. To no surprise, the outer parts of the wing are the most effective regions. Real world experiments are necessary to find the optimal location.