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Solar Car Suspension

Join Jarrett Dunn in exploring the key terms, measuring toe angles, Ackerman steering, and best practices for common and less common suspension types used in solar car racing. Learn how toe, camber, caster, and scrub radius impact tire wear, stability, and steering response.

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Solar Car Suspension

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  1. Solar Car Suspension Jarrett Dunn SOLAR CAR CHALLENGE

  2. Agenda • Introduction • Suspension Types • Key Terms • Measuring Toe • Ackerman Steering • Best Practices

  3. Common Suspension Types Solid Axle Dual A Arm MacPherson Strut

  4. Less Common Suspension Types • Torsion Axle • Radius Arm • Mountain Bike Fork

  5. Vocabulary • Toe • Angle of the wheel and tire pointing away from the centerline of the vehicle • Caster • The angular displacement of the steering angle for the vertical axis • Camber • The angle of the wheel and tire with respect to the vertical axis • Scrub Radius • The distance between where the steering angle intersects the ground and the contact patch of the tire

  6. Vocabulary • Contact Patch • Oval shaped area where tire contacts the road • Steering Axis • Line between two pivot points of of the wheel

  7. Toe (Neutral) Center Line Front

  8. Toe (In) Center Line Front

  9. Toe (Out) Center Line Front

  10. Camber (Negative) Vertical Front

  11. Camber (Negative) Vertical Front

  12. Caster (Positive) Vertical θ Front

  13. Scrub Radius (Positive) Scrub Radius

  14. Toe • Affects Tire Wear • Toe Out • Improves Steering Response • Toe In • Improves Straight line stability

  15. Camber • Affects grip and stability in cornering • Not applicable to solar car racing • Camber Gain

  16. Caster • Creates straight line stability • Positive Caster • Steering wheel feedback • Makes Car harder to turn • Causes wheels to self center • Negative Caster • Unstable

  17. Scrub Radius • Coffee Cup Experiment • Harder to Turn • Increase wear on tire • Positive • Cause center seeking

  18. Measuring Toe Front Dist A A2 A1 Dist B C B1 B2

  19. Measuring Toe A2 A1 Front C B2 B1

  20. Ackerman Steering

  21. Best Practices • Consistency is key • Be methodical • Do the same thing every time • Make Dedicated Tools • Solar cars racing is about efficiency • Small or zero angles

  22. References • Tune to Win, Carrol Smith • Design to Win, Carrol Smith • The Winning Solar Car, Douglas R. Carroll • The Leading Edge, Goro Tamai

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