Quote:
Originally Posted by James OLC
Slightly would be something like 0.25 to 0.5" wider on the front vs the back.
Some slightly dated examples:
Noble m15 89mm wider at front
Ferrari F430 53mm wider at the front
Lamb Gallardo 30mm wider at the front
Porsche Cayman 42mm wider at the rear
I would think (and I may be wrong as this seems to be a bit of a point on contention among some engineers) that if you get "too" wide then you're going to have a car that probably wants to understeer (more than it may do now)... because as you increase track width you decrease tire loading and, at some point, you will lose front traction.
BUT, in actual practice, I think that it is somewhat dependant on your starting point... as think that it will reduce (or at least correct) some understeer up to a point. (I think) that the OLC understeers in some environments because I am overloading the front tires (too much weight from being to close together). My hope is that by increasing track width then the (marginal) weight reduction on the tires will result in a more stable front geometry.
You can look at it this way... By increasing the front track width you should decrease the front end weight. So if you start at 53/47 then you might end up at 51/49 or ??? If you go to far then, in theory (I think) then you will end up with too much weight on the rear...
I honestly don't know where that happens and I may be completely off here...
J
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With a wider front track: Less front cornering load (the term
weight should not be used here) is transferred from inside tire to outside tire. This reduces load on the outside front tire, increases load on the inside front tire in a corner and so increases front lateral traction available to the front tires. It will reduce under steer and increase over steer. What can then be done is to re-balance the handling by reducing rear anti-roll bar stiffness, or lowering the watts or Panhard bar. End result is more total cornering grip for the whole car.
There is no change in static weight F/R, but there is in dynamic load transfer percentage front to rear.