Wheel base and racing line

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Jersey Tom
Jersey Tom
166
Joined: 29 May 2006, 20:49
Location: Huntersville, NC

Re: Wheel base and racing line

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mike wrote:
timbo wrote:
mike wrote:shorter wheelbase will allow the driver to select a different line throught a corner and therefore get more power down that is with the assumption that the car in front defends.
This is your theory you keep repeating. Any basis on that?
longer wheel base car have a greater turning circle
and because of that travelling at any given corner short wheel base cars would have less steering angle, hence the greater selection of lines
Short wheelbase will require less steering angle generally.. but that has nothing to do with what line is available. Just use different steering input.
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ReubenG
ReubenG
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Joined: 21 Apr 2004, 15:31

Re: Wheel base and racing line

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It is possible to have Car A with wheelbase longer than Car B, yet Car A still has a smaller diameter turning circle than B. If you can package the front end so the steering angle of the front wheels is greater, then theoretically you can have a smaller turning circle.

But this is quite different from having greater speed through a steady state corner.
@ Mike - if you haven't read it already, take a look at Brian Beckman's Physics of Racing - I'm sure someone has linked to it somewhere on F1T, but here it is anyway:
http://phors.locost7.info/contents.htm.

If you read Part 5, you will notice that the width (track) of the vehicle is a variable that must be considered when "Calculating" the ideal line. Wheel base doesn't feature because we assume that on a racing track the tightest corner still has a larger radius than the minimum turning circle of the race car.

Mike, your analogy of a bus is correct in the real world because a bus has to drive around corners where the corner radius is close to the minimum turning circle of the bus. On a race track, this is not the case.