Abstract
Each year, the University of Leeds builds a small high performance formula type racing car to take part in the Formula SAE and Formula Student competitions. Included in the research conducted on the vehicle [1, 2, 3], a number of handling models have been produced to optimise the performance of this vehicle. Recently the vehicle was fitted with a data acquisition system built by Delft University and objective data was taken of the vehicle performing a steady state circle test, a j- turn manoeuvre, a lane change manoeuvre and a random steer test.
The paper details an investigation into the accuracy of the handling models in predicting the actual vehicle's performance from the data collected by comparing measured and predicted results over a wide range of handling tests.
The investigation studies the steady state and transient response of the vehicle up to the limit of the vehicle's handling performance. Also, a description is given of the handling model used, collection of vehicle parameters, the data acquisition system and data processing routines.
Having validated the model of the vehicle, it can then, with confidence, be used as a development tool to tune the performance of future vehicles. Further use can be made of the model to optimise the vehicle's setup over a full lap of a racetrack using a lap time simulation package [3] which has also been developed from the handling model analysis.