Tomcat / beam axle handling traits
Discussion
Right, an unusual car with some interesting handling traits. First off it has beam axles, yes old technology, but strong and simple. Problem is that the car likes to follow ruts / the camber of the road (seems better under acceleration). Not good with the speed potential a 3.9 V8 gives... This may not be helped by the wheels which have 25mm more offset than standard and the 32 x 7.5 x 16 Mud tyres. Question is: apart from replacing the steering damper what else can I try to alleviate the problem? I intend to have a go in the car with some 0 offset wolfrace wheels fitted with GT+4 road pattern tyres to see if it is tread pattern or fundamental to the geometry of the front axle....
Ideas gratefully received.
Ideas gratefully received.
You may find that the zero offset wheels will cure the problem. Certainly, the high offset wheels will not be helping at all.
The best arrangement to avoid 'tramlining' is 'centrepoint' steering geometry, ie. where the kingpin axis, viewed from the front, coincides with the centreline of the wheel at ground level. The bigger the kingpin offset (ie. the distance between the kingpin axis and the wheel centreline at ground level) the more the steering will have a mind of its own, so fitting wheels with a large offset will create problems. Bugger to describe in words, so if you are not familiar with the terminology, look it up in a basic suspension textbook (eg. Allan Staniforth's 'Competition Car Suspension).
There are many other possibilities (tyre characteristics, caster angle, gyroscopic effects from the front axle), but solve the easy one first and see if the problem still shows itself.
The best arrangement to avoid 'tramlining' is 'centrepoint' steering geometry, ie. where the kingpin axis, viewed from the front, coincides with the centreline of the wheel at ground level. The bigger the kingpin offset (ie. the distance between the kingpin axis and the wheel centreline at ground level) the more the steering will have a mind of its own, so fitting wheels with a large offset will create problems. Bugger to describe in words, so if you are not familiar with the terminology, look it up in a basic suspension textbook (eg. Allan Staniforth's 'Competition Car Suspension).
There are many other possibilities (tyre characteristics, caster angle, gyroscopic effects from the front axle), but solve the easy one first and see if the problem still shows itself.
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