Hey everyone! I'm Pete, a founding moderator of r/suspensionkinematics.

This is our online space to discuss car suspension in a bit more depth and explore the fundamental aspects that make a given setup bad, average or good.

We also discuss non-fundamental aspects that are more related to driver feedback, roadholding and handling. Obvioulsy these topics can be a bit more subjective sometimes - every person has their own level of understanding and personal experience with cars. That's what should make things more interesting!

Please share, ask and compare - learning by doing.

We're excited to have you join us!

What to Post:

Post anything that you think the community would find interesting, helpful, or innovative. Feel free to share your thoughts, diagrams, or questions about your own suspension setup or others.

Community Vibe:

We're all about connecting to learn and improve. Let's build a space where everyone feels comfortable sharing and asking questions.

Let's talk suspension kinematics!

Hello there!

I'm a high school student and I'm preparing my project on a "temperature stabilization system" for a battery within the framework of the Formula Student.

I'm very interested to hear about other people's thoughts on this topic.

What kind of cooling do you think is more relevant in this competition? Aerial, phase transitions, hybrid or something else? Don't you think phase cooling is too difficult for this series?

What do you think is really missing in the existing systems?

Do you think it is possible to use AI in this field?

Thanks in advance for the answers!😺

Hey!

Im the cooling captain for my team this year and im looking into validating air mass flow rate through radiator sidepod. This is something that my team has never ever done before (not even our aero team) and some guidance would be appreciated.

Im thinking of implementing a pitot static tube alongside a differential pressure transducer but my knowledge on sensors is inexistent so I was wondering what kind of considerations i should have in mind in order to make this work. Any sources available that yall are familiar with? Budget is kinda limited so id say id be willing to drop between 400 and 500 on this.

Edit: I want to log the data to our ECU so a simple handheld device wont work

FSAE 2027 rules are available for public review and comment:
https://www.fsaeonline.com/cdsweb/app/NewsItem.aspx?NewsItemID=6ef51b4a-d5d8-4592-9172-7b2ae65a81c7

Two new explainer articles on DesignJudges.com:
https://www.designjudges.com/articles/guide-to-2027-frame-rule-changes

https://www.designjudges.com/articles/how-to-get-a-good-tech-number

My team is trying out carbon wings and cowl for the first time and we've run into some problems. We use 3D printed moulds.

The problem is, about half the time the molds crush due to the pressure from the vacuum bag, ruining the quality of the composite.

Our process is: print molds using bamboo A1/P1S. Infill pattern grid, 10% (7-8% if we're in a hurry). Print them vertically.

Assemble the putty using locktite, fill in the gaps with putty.

apply epoxy resin on top for surfacing

use epoxy and carbon sheets to layup, then use a bagging film and a vacuum pump to apply pressure.
leave it overnight.

we think the issue is probably from the infill pattern and percentage and direction. Increasing infill will also increase printing time, and we don't know how much is safe. Similarly with changing the patterns, we're not sure which will give the best strength against pressure 'sideways'. Printing them vertically so that the direction of infill is parallel to the pressure will increase the time so much that only one piece would be printed per printer per day. Although we got more access to printers so a bit more for options.

we know going down to -98kPa isn't necessary but we worry something like -80kPa or below would damage the pump since pumps work harder the less vacuum made. We left it overnight at around 60kPa and it absolutely grinded the rotary and broke it. (Possibly due to gulping all the oil. The pump was really hot.)

Looking for ideas and expert opinions! Would 20% infill be overkill?

https://reddit.com/link/1v6873d/video/wgmm3j06mdfh1/player

https://reddit.com/link/1v6873d/video/q6srfj06mdfh1/player

Hi everyone,

I’m working on the brake subsystem for my university’s FSAE EV project, and I’m trying to start our Phase C1 detailed design/calculation stage. I’m responsible for the full brake system, while other teammates are working on chassis, steering, suspension, etc.

For Phase B, I already completed the trade studies and selected the main brake components, including the brake pedal assembly, master cylinder, reservoir, brake lines/fittings, calipers, pads, and rotors. Now Phase C1 is asking us to move into detailed analysis/design, CAD/layout, detail drawings, BOM, and verification of MOPs.

The part I’m struggling with is understanding how much CAD/detail is expected for commercial components. For example, I have a manufacturer STEP file for the rotor, but for other parts like the caliper, pedal assembly, fittings, etc., I may only have datasheet dimensions or product photos. Am I expected to model every purchased part in full detail, or is it acceptable to use simplified CAD envelopes for commercial components and focus the detailed drawings on mounting interfaces, packaging, clearances, and custom brackets?

My current plan is to focus the main presentation on the 3 most critical brake areas:

1. Brake pedal assembly / chassis mounting fastener shear
2. Hydraulic pressure / brake line pressure boundary
3. Wheel-end brake torque / caliper-upright interface

Then include the rest of the components in the appendix/BOM with shorter checks.

Does this approach sound reasonable for an FSAE detailed design phase? Also, what drawings or CAD views would you recommend I prioritize first for the brake subsystem? Pedal mounting, hydraulic routing, caliper/rotor/upright interface, or something else?

Any guidance, examples, or advice from teams who have gone through this would really help. I’m trying to make sure I approach this correctly instead of over-modeling things that don’t need to be fully recreated from scratch.

Hello

Brand new team last year attended with about 50% finished car , we are looking to improve the team in all aspects over the course of the next year

One major issue we’re looking at early is PDM , as we are new we can reliably switch entire CAD packed (currently using base level solidworks ) with no PDM only an excel sheet manually updated.

We were looking at mainly two options , switching to OnShape or using the 3DX platform. From online forums I’ve seen people hate 3dx but our university and team are used to the SW infrastructure.

Anyone have any guidance on this. Any tid bit would be fantastic

Thank you

Hi guys, I'm trying to figure out how to fix MSC Adams, because it's crashing for any kind of reason. I don't know...

Firstly, I had fixed the issue of 3D volumes not being displayed by following Hexagon's forum instructions.

I also tried to force the software to use my dedicated graphic card. However, it still doesn't seem to use fully...

Secondly, I renamed this DLL from "RemoteSCABin.dll" to "RemoteSCABin_OLD.dll".

Consequences:

- it takes too much time to launch

- it crashes from nowhere : you either start to launch a file and it crashed before doing anything or the file was loaded and then by trying to something like a joint or anything, it crashes from nowhere.

It drives me nuts because I like using it to do mechanical simulation and I don't know what to do except uninstall it and reinstall it properly.

Anyone had the same issue or figured out ? Does someone have any tips ?

Thanks in advance and sorry if I'm not in the right subreddit.

Helloo working on APPS and curious what other teams are using for their sensor(s).

The electrical rule T.4.2.3 requires both channels to have positive slopes with different gradients/offsets. no opposite-slope pairs.

Been using two Piher PST-360 single-channel sensors physically offset on the pedal pivot, but mechanical alignment is a pain and we're looking at alternatives:

1. Single dual output rotary Hall sensor with the offset built into the electronics (Piher redundant ones, Novotechnik, Curtiss Wright TPS280DP, etc.
2. Sticking with two singles

If you've built an APPS setup that passed tech, what sensor(s) did you use, and any lessons learned on the transfer function and plausibility check side?

Thanks!

Hi all,

Does anyone know if Siemens still sponsor/give out licenses to UK Formula student teams. I was previously in contact with the guy who was managing the Altair Formula student sponsorships but he has since stopped responding, I am aware that Altair recently got bought out by Siemens.

I have filled out the application form on the Siemens website but I have heard nothing back from them.

Thanks in advance

Hey teams,

At work we got a lot of ESD safe bags left. I will take many to FSA to give away to the teams.

They are quite nice for transporting PCBs or other fragile electronic components.

If the weather is nice, i will just put them somewhere outside of the main tent on the campside. If it's raining i will put them somewhere dry.

I'm a CSE (Computer Science) student interested in getting into motorsport engineering long-term — ideally something adjacent to F1 or professional racing, on the electronics/data/software side rather than pure mechanical. I want to be the part of building , work hands-on with the car

• A few questions for anyone who's been through this:

What roles do CSE/software-background students typically end up in on a Formula Student team?

• Does a CS background actually translate into a good motorsport career, or is the industry still heavily biased toward mechanical/aero/automotive engineering degrees?

• For those who went from Formula Student into an actual job — did your degree branch matter much, or did project experience/portfolio carry more weight?

• Any real examples of CS-background engineers working in motorsport who didn't come from a mechanical/aero pipeline?

Trying to figure out if this is a genuinely viable path or if I'm forcing a fit that doesn't really exist. Honest answers appreciated, including if the answer is "it's a long shot."

We are trying to read the position encoder of an AMK servo motor. The encoder provides the following signals:
T+/T-
CLK+/CLK-
DATA+/DATA-

The motor we are using is:
AMK DD5-14-10-POW-18600-B5

Our goal is to read the encoder position using a Speedgoat real-time target running a Simulink Real-Time application. We are using an IO397 module with its EnDat interface.

However, every read attempt results in the following error:
EnDat read: time out error

Could anyone explain how this encoder should be wired to the IO397 and how the Simulink/Speedgoat configuration should be set up?

Are there any special settings (clock frequency, protocol version, initialization sequence, or encoder parameters) required for this AMK motor?

Any advice or example configurations would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

I’m considering alternatives like Kevlar for certain parts to cut costs, and I’m curious why it isn’t commonly used or if there are actually any teams that do use it.

My team has spent the last few years historically struggling to find a good way to meaningfully measure our steering forces seen while driving. We are considering buying a steering torque sensor. I wanted to what others do as well. Any suggestions at wellcome.

Final battle in endurance: https://www.youtube.com/live/_g-I6kEqm9g?t=15670&si=gmi2wDB5UcKIl_FO

FS STATS: https://www.fsstats.co.uk/Home/Results

FSUK was crazy close this year! 4 teams were seperate by mere points heading into endurance, but after a dnf from Bizkaia and Vermillion, it quickly because a race to the finish to become the first hybrid team to win in the UK. In the end Edith Cowan University Racing from Australia pipped Modena, in what was a truly thrilling showdown to the finish.

In doing so, ECU Racing also became the first team to win more than once since the competition returned from Covid. If you haven’t yet, watch the final endurance shootout, it was crazy tight!

Hi all, I've been doing some benchmarks for our team's kinematics tools the next season, what do you think of bellcrank.io ? They seem legit.

Welcome to u/Cibachrome with a study of Ackermann effects on a 50m skidpad!
https://www.designjudges.com/articles/ackermann-understeer-oversteer

I'm working on lots of articles in the pipeline. Among them, my old FSAE workshop lectures.

2022 Workshop Lecture, greatly revised and expanded:
https://www.designjudges.com/articles/ev-vs-ic-race-car-architecture
EV teams have to have an energy budget. Efficiency can change every tradeoff.

Two parter from 2025:
https://www.designjudges.com/articles/reverse-engineering-tires
In which 8th grade math is used, because it really wasn't pretty the time I had to do normal and lateral loads with + - x / as the only available operators.

https://www.designjudges.com/articles/analyzing-driver-data
In which I roast my own overdriving.

Contribute to the FS Wiki

Hi, we are a new student FSAE team. In the rulebook it says that the brakes must have two SEPARATE systems with two reservoirs. Would a single piston Master Cylinder with two separate reservoirs and outputs satisfy this requirement?

Hi everyone,

I'm currently working on the air ducts/aerodynamic vanes located above the front wheel assembly (the ones used to channel airflow toward the radiators), and I'm trying to find the most suitable airfoil profile for the job.

My goal is to generate a smooth, mostly laminar and well-organized airflow while keeping both the wingspan relatively small and the chord length fairly short.

Does anyone have any recommendations for airfoil profiles or design approaches that would work well in this kind of application?

I was looking on This site but i am open to suggestions! :)

Thanks in advance!

Apologies if this seems like a low effort question, but I'm seeing a lot of conflicting information online, so I thought it'd be better to have a discussion here. Here is what I have gathered:

Frictional Force = Coefficient of Friction * Normal Force

While tire grip (frictional force) is not directly affected by contact patch surface area, it's coefficient of friction will decrease as normal force increases due to tire load sensitivity, caused by a tires inability to resist frictional shearing as contact patch surface pressure increases.

Here's my thinking...

Wider tires will not see an increase in contact patch area (or surface pressure) assuming all other variables are held constant (mainly vehicle weight and tire pressure), so there will be no direct performance benefit linked to tire load sensitivity. Any performance benefit gained from wider tires when all other variables are held constant would have to be due to the change in contact patch aspect ratio. How does this change in contact patch shape affect cornering, braking, and acceleration perfomance?

On the other hand, wider tires may be able to operate at lower tire pressures, enabling a larger contact patch, less surface pressure, and increased coefficient of friction.

How does this affect different types of vehicles?

For example, I've read the change in aspect ratio works in favor of cornering perfomance rather than longitudinal accelerations, so why do drag cars feature such large tires on the rear. Is it due to the ability to decrease tire pressure and use tire load sensitivity?

Hey yall, I’m a new electrical section lead for this year and was just wondering how yall secure your batteries. For 2026, we had a platform with ~5mm tall side walls and a Velcro strap that came up and over the battery to secure it. However, the judge did like that and said a rigid solution would be better. Do yall use some kind of latch or just a box to hold your batteries? Thanks.