
You can see this in the diagram above, with the front outside wheel pointing at a less aggressive/sharp angle to the center point denoted by the blue circle. If you were to look at them from a front view, the inside wheel would be pointing more to the inside than the outside wheel. This means that the turning angle of the inside wheel will be greater than the angle of the outside wheel. Its a theoretical center point because it is constantly moving as the car is moving, and although its not fixed in space, its a reference point relative to the car. When cornering, there is a theoretical center point in the corner, and both front wheels need to point at the same center point in order to turn the car with maximum grip. more open relative to the back wheels, than the outside wheel in order for them both to point towards a central point. The inside wheel needs to be at a greater angle, i.e. Ackermann steering helps to prevent the tires from slipping by pointing the front wheels at different angles. The ability to control the amount of slip on each wheel means that all four tires will always have grip. Differentials allow varying amounts of power to be sent to different wheels, so they all maintain the maximum grip, and none spin faster than they should. This is essentially why a four-wheel drive car uses a differential. In other words, they need to cover more ground than the inside wheels. That is because the outside wheels have further to travel than the inside wheels. However, if both front wheels point at the same angle, it will cause them to lose grip and slide along the tarmac. When a car turns its steering wheel, the front wheels angle themselves in the same direction. If you can grasp the turning angles of wheels and why they need to be different, then you can understand why Ackermann steering geometry is important. In order to understand the Ackermann steering theory, we need to understand how slip angles work. It considers both leading and trailing shoes.Ī calculator to determine spring rate from dimensions of an existing spring or to find physical parameters given the spring rate.RELATED ARTICLE How Does Weight Distribution Affect Race Car Performance? Ĭalculates the effects of drum brake configuration, such as lining lead and lag, on braking performance. This programme has no use unless you are actually constructing a tubular structure.Īnalyzes the out of balance forces on a single cylider engine with different balance factors. This limit is set by the size of the paper in your printer. It will handle tube sizes of up to about 80 mm. You can input sizes of two round tubes that you wish to join together by notching one of them, the programme will then allow you to print a paper template which can be wrapped around the tube as a guide to cut the right shape. This programme called “TubeMiter” was written by Giles Puckett and is here with his permission. This programme calculates and saves the structural properties of round and rectangular sections such as used in chassis construction.
#STEERING GEOMETRY CALCULATOR SOFTWARE#
This software calculates the CoG position based on data from weight measurements of the assembled motorcycle. In addition there is information to help with calculating CoG positions for riders.ĬoG and weight distribution calculator 2.ĭifferent to the programme above. This programme calculates the mass centre, moments of inertia and weight distribution of a motorcycle when the masses and CoG locations of various components are input. This programme calculates steering geometry parameters. Those references no longer work, use instead. NOTE: There are references in some of these programmes to an old website and email with tonyfoale in the link.
#STEERING GEOMETRY CALCULATOR ZIP FILE#
These are 32+ bit PC programmes and are compatible with Windows 9x and later, and should work with a Windows emulator on MACs, Linux and other 32 bit OS.Īll of these programmes are in a single zip file which can be downloaded from the products page.
