Reddit reviews Race Car Vehicle Dynamics

I would suggest you do some research before you post this kind of vague question here.

What you're asking is akin to, "How do I speak Latin?"

Carroll Smith is a very good start E: there are many books, I forget which one has suspension design, but all of them are worth getting.

Gellespie is a good addition

Milliken and Milliken is much more detailed, some call it 'the bible' but it's just a very good reference with a lot of equations for when you start doing more complex models that won't be explained by simpler books.


I'd reccommend getting at least smith and gillespie to start. If you need more complex modeling go for milliken, but 90% of FSAE teams don't need what's in milliken IMO. They struggle on the basics so much that it just is too much to absorb in a usable manner.

No one cares if you have a roll couple distribution model based on your tire data if you haven't done a proper camber or toe analysis, or if your vehicle isn't designed to have self-centering steering.

I could go on for hours about basic vehicle dynamics tbh, but suffice it to say that there are countless variables that go into determining handling characteristics. If you're really interested, the definitive introductory resource is this book, which if you can find used would probably be best. It's certainly not an easy read.

For a more accessible read, this book is pretty great too. It's also much cheaper.

IMO, you should probably do a bit more research about common solutions that people have for your particular car. I'd recommend, before changing anything, learning a bit more about basic vehicle dynamics. You don't even need to learn fancy math or anything, just kind of get an idea of what changes generally affect which characteristics.

The bible for vehicle dynamics is Race Car Vehicle Dynamics (RCVD) by Milliken and Milliken.

Also lean on SAE papers, and the formula SAE forums out there. Tons of great information to be found.

https://www.amazon.com/Race-Vehicle-Dynamics-R146-Premiere/dp/1560915269/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1491969872&sr=1-1&keywords=race+car+dynamics

Get him started early

If you're interested in ride/handling or chassis design:

Race Car Vehicle Dynamics

The Science of Vehicle Dynamics

Fundamentals of Vehicle Dynamics

Chassis Design: Principles and Analysis

I figured responding would be better than downvoting and what not. Here's a short list of some good textbooks to start with.


Fluid Mechanics: Fundamentals and Applications: This is my favourite general fluid dynamics textbook.

Race Car Aerodynamics: Designing for Speed: Considered one of if not the best textbooks for race car specific aerodynamics.

Race Car Vehicle Dynamics: This is the defacto vehicle dynamics textbook. I don't think any F1 engineer out there hasn't read this.

Computational Fluid Dynamics: The CFD Bible.

PM me if you want ahem links to the digital versions. Sorry if I've been harsh earlier, everyone starts somewhere and some concepts aren't particularly intuitive. You've got the right attitude though, a better feel for aerodynamics will come soon enough.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1560915269/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1463348434&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=race+car+vehicle+dynamics&dpPl=1&dpID=51RPTK9WZCL&ref=plSrch

>And weight on that tire would just be taking away from your other tires.

Except that's a good thing...

For tires to generate lateral force, they need a normal load on them (i.e. weight) and they need to slip (hence slip angle).

So by that logic, you just want to pile on more weight and you get more lateral force. This is true, but the problem is that pneumatic tires have a sensitivity to that weight. This means that for more and more load you pile on them, the less lateral force you get back. It's why race cars want to always be as low as possible, you transfer less weight.

Essentially, because the weight got transferred off the tire, it lost more lateral force capability than the outside tire gained.

If you don't believe me, read either:

The Racing & High Performance Tire by Haney

or

Tune to Win by Carroll Smith

or

Fundamentals of Vehicle Dynamics by Gillespie

or

RCVD by Milliken and Milliken

or you can choose to ignore a random person on the internet that says he has several years of engineering experience for several racing series.