Set up Flat patch

[andrewsayer22]

Evening all

Does anybody have any pictures of an F1,IRL,Sports car on the flat patch being set up? Im most interested in the solid set up wheels they use and the system they use to measure the car

cheers

[Jersey Tom]

Solid setup wheels?

[Ciro Pabón]

Not much, but nobody answers...



Short description of setup procedure (at the bottom of the page): http://www.totalkitcar.com/tkc_article_1359.php

[Belatti]

Are you talking about aligning wheels?

If the plat patch you mention are the 4 bases where the car stads in Ciros pic, then they are just 4 bases with adjustable height (threads).

To align the car you must level it (using these 4 bases) and its better to use the aligning "solid" wheels because of the imperfections the tyres has (its difficult to know the right ride height with tyres).
The method can be using laser or, like in the old times, with a fishing line and a steel ruler (the method is still in use in low budget teams and it requires more time and patience).

[Ciro Pabón]

Well, yes and no, Belatti: a flat patch is the english term for an alignment platform, the usual tool to setup a chassis with precision.

You don't follow exactly the same procedure used to align the wheels of a regular car, altough you can use it for camber/caster and other wheel alignments, if you wish. At my local autodrome there is a shop that offers the tool. They are more or less affordable, it's not a "stratospheric" tool. I've seen (at e-bay) relatively cheap, used flat patches that allow you to weigh each corner, and ones with laser beams for alignment, they are more expensive.

I've seen them also being used at the Brazilian and Spanish GP by FIA officials to check the chassis regulations (floor clearances and the such).

I've heard of people attaching solid wheels when using the platform at Indycar, Formula One and Formula 3/3000, but I've never seen them, or, if they actually use them for regulations checking (it seems logical), I didn't realize it at the time I saw them.

Finally, I used to have (until it broke) a "Bosch card" with laser ride height sensors: they used to be cheaper and better suited to that particular task. I heartily recommend them. They are pretty practical for simulations and setups. This is a "repost":

Accesible simulations: nice reading



For Bosch software (WinDarab, for ECU tuning, and LapSim for riding height and speed simulation), check here: http://www.bosch-motorsport.com/content ... l/3589.htm

The documentation is here (WinDarab): http://www.bosch-motorsport.com/content ... Manual.pdf

And here (LapSim): http://www.bosch-motorsport.com/content ... mV2007.pdf

Bosch ride height sensor: now they cost 2000 dollars (1190 euros) but you could buy them for 300 some years ago.


If someone has a good pic of a flat patch, please, be so kind. The one I posted is not at the level of this forum...

[RacingManiac]

Ferrari F1 carbon fibre setup wheel....
http://supercarfreak.net/gallery/album728/PICT0098

Circa 2004 Indy

We use solid wheel for setup on FSAE car only a few times a year, probably the first time we setup the car's alignment when making dedicated toe-measuring bar, right before the main comp, and probably a few other times when we are chasing some setup. But most of the time we just end up using the normal mounted wheels with tires.....the measuring system for us is basically fishing line....which is still seen being used by anything from people in Formula Ford to Champcar/IRL/ALMS Prototypes....I think F1 has moved beyond that, and there are some pics in my F1 album with their setup rig, but I am not sure how they work...

[Belatti]

Ciro, you did not get what I was trying to say.

I know what procedure you follow, in any car, regular or not. I know what those 4 alignment platforms are and that they are afordable. What I was trying to say is that its better using alignment "solid" wheels instead of aligning with the "regular" wheels as in the picture posted above.

Here a pic that may worth more than a thousand words:


A TC2000 Renault Megane with its alignment wheels, standing in its pneumatic jacks. Watch the fishing line (in the floor) in the right corner. The alignment platforms in this case are only used to level the car. They dont have a scale and they dont use lasers.

Every local Autodrome here has flat patches that allows you to weigh each corner, its essential to have a good weight distribution. There are good drivers (the example I know is Norberto Fontana in TC) that can tell you that the car has 15Kg more in one side and maybe be wrong by only a couple of kilos.

Back to the alignment platforms, in their more basic version they are only 4 chunks of steel with threads used to level the thing. I know, I know, they have to cope with certain flatness tolerances but after all, thats what it is.

[Scuderia_Russ]

The method can be using laser or, like in the old times, with a fishing line and a steel ruler (the method is still in use in low budget teams and it requires more time and patience).

The fishing line method is still widely in use, and not only by 'low budget' teams as you say. 888 BTCC team used this method while I was there and still do. The roblem with lasers is their inaccuracy over greater distances. What looks like a 2mm dot at 300mm can become a 25mm dot at three metres.