n smikle wrote:unless the car is driving strait or has some extreme 4 wheel steering, there is always a slip angle right? what meaning does the slip angle have...(i know what it is) but what is the meaning to the driver/engineer.. is it just for reference to show how curved an arc the car is driving in?
In Ciro's diagram it show lateral and longtitudinal slip angle.
For a tyre to turn - stop or go it has to slip (a little).
When the slip angle curve is at zero the tyre cannot turn. As the slip angle increases, the tyre can generate more turning force until it reaches the point where the tyre cannot give any more grip and the steering "feels all funny". If the top of this curve is quite flat it means the tyre has quite a large window before you fall off the road. If the curve drops steeply, the tyre will have a tendency to suddenly lose grip. If the upslope of the curve is quite gentle and the final slip angle high - the tyre is reacting quite gently and will be predictable and forgiving. A sharp slope will mean the tyre is quite aggressive.
I think it is fair to say that old fashioned race tyres - skinny with high profiles - will be quite forgiving and give their best performance in a big slide.
Lower profile tyres will be more responsive (probably grip harder too) but will let go more suddenly.
How an F1 tyres feels, I have no idea. Common senses suggests that it would be quite sudden - BUT they do have quite a high aspect ratio, so may not be quite the evil beast we might expect.
