PROFESSIONAL MOTORSPORT

SIMULATION SOFTWARE

Tire grip

Easiest determined by looking at the diff time

Example of comparison of diff time signal for three different tire grip levels.

Tire grip is the main factor for the speed through the various corners. Since in most cases, tire parameters are not available, the tire grip needs to be estimated. In order to do so one should look at the whole lap as well as the individual corners.

The diff time signal is a great help to estimate the tire grip. In the examples one sees the difference in diff time signal for the 'best' tire grip as well as 6% higher and 6% lower tire grip. In either case it can clearly be seen that the diff time gradually increases or decreases over the lap distance.

If the main tire grip value is found, the other tire parameters which influence tire grip, like camber and vertical load dependence, can be estimated.

Best grip example:

Example of comparison of corner speeds between simulation model and real car on-car recorded data
Results of varying the tire grip

Grip 6% higher

The example shows that the corner speeds of the model are in almost all corners higher than the real vehicle.

Example of comparison of corner speeds between simulation model and real car on-car recorded data, where the tire grip in the simulation model is 6% too high

Grip 6% too low

Reducing the tire grip 6% shows that the corner speeds of the model are in all corners lower than the real vehicle.

Example of comparison of corner speeds between simulation model and real car on-car recorded data, where the tire grip in the simulation model is 6% too low