John
<< I'm a Mechanical Engineering student in my final year at the =
University of Portsmouth, U.K.. Hence a project is required of us. I'm =
currently doing on Formula racing cars.
Due to the vastness of the field, my research concentrates on =
chassis & suspension. Thus I would greatly appreciate it if =
suggestion or highlights could be made on any inadequacies or =
deficiencies of the race cars on the aforementioned field as part of =
my research requisites include addressing the shortcomings of chassis =
& suspension.
It would be a tremendous help towards my project if an =
interview could be arranged with you regarding the subject. My =
address & contact number is as mentioned above.>>
=
We have a couple of problems:
1. I'm not a qualified chassis engineer.
2. I live in Sydney Australia.
My suggestion is that you see if you can find a collection of Racecar
Engineering magzines and read all the articles on the topic. Also buy al=
l
of Carroll Smith's books. This will help provide you with a grounding on
the topic.
The reality of engineering a racing car is that every component is capabl=
e
of improvement at any given time and therefore it is not possible to have=
a
general discussion on ' inadequacies or deficiencies' .... rather it is
possible to identify new technologies and study their applicability to
improving existing components.
In most categories today - including FF - the new shock absorber technolo=
gy
initially developed by Penske in the USA - when combined with current dat=
a
logging and analysis techniques - is providing a lot of opportunity.
The other aspect of your topic that you will need to develop an
understanding of is the relationship of tyre choice to chassis design. T=
he
objectiive of the chassis is to work the tyre to its optimum. Everytime =
a
formula changes tyre - as is particualrly the case with F1 next year and =
as
was the case with FF here in Australia this year (Dunlop CR82 to Avon
ACB10) everything changes.
The trouble is very few people actually understand all the implications o=
f
any change and even well established chassis manufacturers can quickly lo=
se
their way. =
I'm sure that a lot of people on the forum would be interested if you wer=
e
to share your research with us all.
regards
Jeremy Braithwaite
Age & Treachery Racing Australia
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