The December issue of Racecar Engineering is just out.

In it you will find that Mark Ortiz has taken up the subject of racing front wheel drive cars. It would be worth the read to some of you.

Scott, who found the piece on MMM to be representative of the typical characterization one hears about Racecar Engineering from the "man on the track"...

 

does it have pictures??

 

How about an *** meter chart?
Math and stuff gives me a headache.

 

Is that the one with the Focus WRC car on the cover or have I been looking at a past issue in the office?

 

I just picked it up and was about to make an identical post about the FWD article.
The article is a little short and probably what most of you guys already know but its a good read anyway.

$8 an issue does sting a little....

edit: Lee it has the Jordan yellow Benson Hedges car on the cover with the title "Formula 1 set-up"

 

Lee,

It's the one with a shot of a Jordan F1 car being swarmed over by crew in a racing garage on the cover.

Doods...you don't have to read it if you don't want. Me - I'm thankful that such a magazine achieves sufficient circulation to make even limited amounts of insight from people like Mark accessible to little guys like me.

Scott, who would refer you to the remarks of Carroll Smith and others regarding drivers with "the whole package"...

 

I agree. It is certainly rewarding to have such a magazine available. The evolution of racing technology overs the years is one of the most interesting aspects documented by this fine rag. Too bad there is not more low level stuff for the commoners running their ITR's and Civics on the track. I particularly enjoyed the October issue with the article on lap time simulation, and the homebuilt carbon fibre chassis. I just attended a seminar on race-car set-up and the object of the exercise was a Formula Renault (FranAM) car. It was a thing of beauty, carbon fiber tub and all, and only represents the low-end of what is usually covered in Racecar Engineering. Setup of this car on inclinometer leveled scales showed a "drastic" cross-weight change on the front tires of 10 lbs when one tire was under-inflated by 2 psi due to the car tilting slightly. Cars are set up to within 0.25 psi on each tire! From their site " Sixteen year-old Quebec native Andrew Ranger won his fifth race of the 2003 FRAN AM 2000 North American Pro Championship Series at Mont Tremblant Quebec". It was nice to meet up with an engineer from this team and see them doing their adjustments on a truly modern high end formula car, just as discussed in the magazine.