Skip to content

Williams Front Suspension

Here are our CFD links and discussions about aerodynamics, suspension, driver safety and tyres. Please stick to F1 on this forum.
eweturn
eweturn
0
Joined: 22 Feb 2004, 07:45
Location: Sydney

Williams Front Suspension

Post

Just wondering if anyone has noticed something different about the Williams front suspension? Either that, or my eyes are playig up.

I was watching a reply of the Bahrain GP in which there was some onboard footage ofRalf (22 laps to go to the finish) following Da Matta. There seems to be some movement that I have not notice before. Also, other cars eg Farrari (RB onboard shortly before to compare) does not seem to have the same ammount of movement.

I am not a tech boffin, so I will attempt to describe this as best I can so please excuse the terminology. The pushrods (the diagonal part) seems to move quite a lot compared to other cars. This could simply be Williams setup? The more interesting aspect is the horizontal part of the suspension. As the car goes into a right hand corner, the left suspension seems to rise, while the right hand side seems to lower. It is most easily notice through the quick chicane.

The amount of movement also seems to vary depending on the corner type (quick change of direction verse a slow speed corner) and some what independently to steer wheel commands. I have replayed it quite a lot, and this is the impression that I get. However it may simply be an illusion due to the camera limitations/angle etc?

If this is the case, can anyone explain why? I would have thought that you would want the Left hand suspension to lower and vice versa. But this is now showing my lack of knowledge.
It's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore looking like an idiot
Top
Monstrobolaxa
Monstrobolaxa
1
Joined: 28 Dec 2002, 23:36
Location: Covilhã, Portugal (and sometimes in Évora)

Post

Well....it seems to me it's all up to the setup.

About the suspension movement in the right hand corner, turning right will make a weight shift to the left of the chassis (due to the centrifugal forces) this will create roll. When the car rolls the outer suspension will be "contracted", is this case will move up compressing the dampers/springs. The inner most suspension (front left) will be slightly raised from the reference plane (in this case the track) and due to the damper/spring it will be pushed against the ground, making it seem that it is going down.

I don't know if you understood my explanation, I just woke up....so my ideas are still a little slow. Maybe someone can explain better.
Top
Guest
Guest
0

Post

Yes, the fact that the car's centre of gravity is higher than the car's rollcenter means that a right-hand corner will produce a weight shift to the outside of the car. This means that the outside suspension will compress and the inside suspension will extend. The amount the car rolls is governed by a whole host of factors such as rollbar settings, droop, suspension stiffness, rollcenter, CoG, and more.

But simply no your eyes arent deceiving you, the movement in the horizontal suspension parts (effectively wishbones and camber-links) will happen due to bumps or cornering. Fairly simple stuff but its a good observation!

rob
Top

Return to “Aerodynamics, chassis and tyres”