BLOG UPDATED 5/29/24 –> paddle shifters, drive-by-wire, team wheels for endurance racing, Fernando Alonso prank: At the bottom, you’ll see a link to read an interesting take on IndyCar’s speed from across the Pond from the highly respected Racecar Engineering... Read More
Ed’s Driver’s Ed In 1989, while working at SAE as Associate Editor for Automotive Engineering magazine, I accepted an invitation to speak in Washington DC about the “State of Driver’s Ed in this Country”…that was before the Internet. Many of... Read More
Left- or Right-Foot Braking — a Matter of Preference Driving stars discuss braking techniques in this SAFEisFAST video. If you’re a right-foot braker, I recommend practicing left-foot braking on the street for a few months before you take it to... Read More
In-Car Cameras — Good for Watching Hand Positioning Watch Tony’s struggle to hold the wheel out of the hairpin in the very last shot of this video…don’t skip ahead, this one’s worth every second. Ryan’s upper wing on his right... Read More
Relaxation Periods As a racecar goes from the different loads for a typical corner — acceleration, braking, cornering, acceleration — transition periods occur as the tire’s cords settle down into their tasks at hand. As the tire transitions to-and-from the... Read More
Ayrton Senna at Play in an Acura NSX Ayrton probably didn’t have a lot of seat-time in this car when this was shot. So, the amount of lock needed to dance it around the corners wasn’t as ingrained as it... Read More
Racing vs Street Transmissions — or Gearboxes Dog boxes used in car racing shift lightening fast, and are basically transmissions without synchronizers. As such, input/output shafts must have matching speeds before the shift can occur…otherwise they grind going in. Upshifts... Read More
Ross Bentley does a great job of simplifying how load curves work in relation to cornering force. In fact, the load curve can be mixed with the slip-angle curve to get a 3D “carpet plot” of traction force available at... Read More
Jacques Villeneuve spoke about boredom in F1 in this BBC story: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/26178312. Back in the ’90s, I worked quite closely with him in IndyCar. I found him to be one of the most talented, level-headed drivers on the circuit. He... Read More
Dale’s explanations are simple, and his approach is beautifully unconventional. Differentiating between “attitude angle” and slip angle took a second to visualize, but his torques about the car’s CG are spot-on…bravo, sir.... Read More