Automotive

T24 Takes Pole Position in Racing Car Optimisation

Knowing the exact angle that the wheels are at allows racing teams to diagnose issues and achieve a trade-off between grip when cornering and stability of the car on a straight line.

Applying positive or negative camber to a wheel means that the tyre will be at an angle whilst the vehicle is going straight. As a result, when the car goes into a corner the forces will push the weight of the vehicle onto the whole tyre, giving it more grip and allowing it to go into the corner at a higher speed without losing traction.

The Sebastian Loeb Racing Team (SLR) wanted to maximise traction in the turns whilst not losing stability on the straights.

Wireless Telemetry Saves Race Engineers Valuable Time in Vehicle Setup

British load cell manufacturer Novatech spotted the potential for improving the process of measuring centre of gravity and other dynamics for the optimum set up on racing cars. To achieve this, the company developed a wireless wheel set up system using Mantracourt’s T24 wireless system.

Wireless Shaft Torque Measurement in Formula SAE Racing Car

Formula SAE is an international engineering competition where student teams compete with single-seater race cars they have designed and built themselves. Mantracourt have sponsored the ‘Ecole de Technologie Superieure’ engineering team from the University of Quebec, 2009 to 2013, providing instrumentation for their prototype design and build.

Over four hundred and fifty teams from 41 different countries spread across 5 continents take part in the competition and there are major Formula SAE events held in the USA, UK and Germany. Events also take place all over the world in countries such as Austria, Hungary, Japan, Thailand, Brazil and Australia.

Above image courtesy of Remi Saint-Onge, ReflETS.

Data Acquisition in Formula SAE Suspension and Steering System Validation Tests

Formula SAE is an international engineering competition where student teams compete with single-seater race cars they have designed and built themselves. Mantracourt have sponsored the ‘Ecole de Technologie Superieure’ (ETS) engineering team from the University of Quebec since 2009, providing instrumentation for their prototype design and build.

The car in 2011 featured new suspension and steering packages designed from scratch. The new steering system was designed to reduce driver effort while allowing clear feedback from the tyres to the driver. In order to validate set up and troubleshoot various systems on the car, loads in all suspension and steering links needed to be quantified. To do so, the team needed strain gauges on all suspension and steering links.

Monitoring Tyre Behaviour in Formula Racing

The ETS Formula SAE Team from the University of Quebec is renowned for its lightweight and ergonomic car design, its excellent suspension design and its scientific approach to vehicle validation and development. The ETS car weighs less than 525 pounds (driver included), a quality that makes difficult tyre choice and tyre exploitation.