Examination of an Alternative Suspension Configuration for a Sprint Car 2014-01-0098

This paper discusses a project intended as a design study for a team of college students preparing for careers in motorsports. The project's objective was to conduct a design study on the possible redesign of the suspension for a dirt-track sprint car. The car examined was typical of those which race on one-quarter to one-half mile dirt oval tracks across the United States. The mission of this concept study was to develop a different configuration from the traditional torsion bar spring system, for the front end. The design included moving the dampers inboard with the addition of a rocker to relate the movement through the front suspension system. For the rear end, components were designed to allow the radius rod to be adjustable from the cockpit, thus providing the driver with adjustability to changing track conditions. The project goal was to design functional front end and rear end changes that could provide a positive impact on handling as well as keeping the system easy to replace in a short period of time. In doing so, the goal was to stay within the general chassis configuration utilized by sanctioning bodies such as the King of the West Sprint Car Series, which would also make it applicable to numerous other sanctioning bodies and tracks around the country.