Impact of Tire Temperature on Grip in a Racecar

When designing a suspension system for a racecar, tires are the first considered, as they are the component connecting the vehicle to the ground. Throughout a race, a tire will heat and cool, depending on the track conditions, suspension geometry and setup, and driver inputs. Typically, tire temperatures are logged in small batches, after an entire run. This year, sensors constantly reading temperatures in sixteen places across the width of the tire throughout a run were purchased and their readings logged and evaluated. Capturing and logging these temperatures are extremely helpful in vehicle tuning and system designing. This data is used to make quantitative adjustments to the vehicle setup and to provide future teams with a strong base to begin their suspension designs using data from a similar vehicle. The sensors were placed on the vehicle in order to collect temperature readings across the tire, while being rules compliant. The readings showed that the suspensions initial setup was not correct. Using the tire temperatures read through corners the suspension was adjusted to ensure the tires were kept at the correct position through a corner and did not overheat. This led to a well handling car that required less trials to achieve