Practical Corner Weighting: Rake
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Rake
03.00
| 00:00 | - When you're making adjustments to the corner weights and balance of your car, then rake is another important aspect to the setup that you need to consider. |
| 00:08 | Rake mainly plays a large part in high downforce aero cars as it has a significant affect on the aerodynamic downforce available. |
| 00:16 | However it does also play a role in the front to rear weight transfer of your car and should be something you understand when making adjustments to the ride height. |
| 00:26 | Simply put, if you look at the car from side on, rake is the angle between the floor of the car and the ground. |
| 00:32 | Normally this is plotted as a straight line along the floor of the car and if the front is closer to the ground than the rear, then this is referred to as positive rake. |
| 00:41 | If the rear of the car is closer to the ground than the front then this is referred to as negative rake. |
| 00:47 | Generally in motorsport, we would have a positive rake as this allows for better airflow underneath the car and it can reduce drag. |
| 00:55 | When changes to rake are made, we're transferring the weight of the car either forwards or backwards over the front or the rear axle lines. |
| 01:02 | When we want to improve grip on either the front or the rear of the car, then adjusting rake is one possible change which can help with this. |
| 01:10 | For example, if your car is understeering through the mid corner and corner exit, but the rear of the car has plenty of grip no matter how hard you push then one possible solution could be to drop the front ride height or raise the rear ride height. |
| 01:25 | This will increase your positive rake and will transfer more weight onto the front axle line of the car, therefore giving a slight increase in grip. |
| 01:32 | To measure rake, you can usually use the sill of the car as a good representation of the floor line of the car. |
| 01:38 | You can then measure between the ground and the sill at the front of the car and repeat this at the rear. |
| 01:44 | In this way we're actually representing the rake directly as a measurement rather than an angle which we can then easily reference when we're making adjustments to the car. |
| 01:53 | As mentioned, adjusting rake will give a slight amount of weight transfer but can have a significant effect on the rear weight percentage which is a term we'll be covering later in this course. |
| 02:03 | Adjusting your rake will also have a large effect on the car's aero as discussed and this will change the way the air flows under the car. |
| 02:11 | If you are running a high downforce aero package, then you should be consulting with a designed before making significant rake changes. |
| 02:19 | Adjusting the rake can be achieved by changing the ride height of one end of the car while leaving the other untouched. |
| 02:25 | As discussed in previous modules, we want to keep the car as low as possible, so in the majority of cases we'd want to lower the car down to adjust handling problems. |
| 02:35 | Some common sense needs to be applied here though as lowering the car too much can compromise suspension travel and geometry or could bring the car into contact with the ground or the wheels into contact with the wheel arches. |
| 02:48 | When adjusting the ride height, in order for you to change rake accurately, you need to lower or raise the ride height on the left and right hand side of the car evenly. |
