curvhog - 09 October 2009 04:59 PM

Ah, the toothy piece. Since the picture is of an R26 from 2006 traction control was still legal and the more information the system had the happier it was. Somewhere else there were other sensors picking up actual road speed and front wheel speed to relate to rear wheel spin. You will find similar sensors on street cars with traction control and also as part of anti-lock braking systems.

I can't remember whether the laser bit was during practice or the race. I suspect practice because the teams will sometimes install instruments to collect data for setup and then remove them before the race.

When measuring wheel speed, reading multiple location points is more accurate than one. Many racing wheel speed sensors have multiple "tabs" in one rotation for reasons of resolution. They also read all four wheel speeds, and also read speed from the GPS system.
The blue rods in the picture are suspension sensors (probably Penny & Giles or Active, linear pots.) Calculations of roll, pitch, heave, warp, shocks speeds and RIDE HEIGHT change (distance from the setup table) are possible.
The only "true" ride height number is through the laser ride height sensors which are used in conjunction with the suspension sensors.

I realize now that there is no "anti-roll bar" in the conventional sense. Is the forward mount (pivot point)of the third spring/transverse rocker arm also a torsion-bar?
How else is chassis roll controlled?

alacran - 17 October 2009 07:22 PM

I realize now that there is no "anti-roll bar" in the conventional sense. Is the forward mount (pivot point)of the third spring/transverse rocker arm also a torsion-bar?
How else is chassis roll controlled?

There is a front bar, no doubt; I think it was Carroll Smith who said that the front suspension is the brains, and the rear follows. An anti-roll bar is not necessarily required, especially when you have such separation between the individual wheel spring rates and the overall rear spring rate.

Forward bite is actually enhanced the less roll stiffness a rear supension (rear drive car) has, as long as roll isn't excessive and is otherwise controlled.