Dirt Racing Technology

Everything from basics to the hottest

trends in dirt racing today to help win
races
Success
 What Does it Take to Be successful?

 Dig to the core understanding of your car.

 Understand the track your running at.

 Holding It All Together.

 Work hard, don’t give up, don’t stop learning.

 Digging into the core of your car
 Don’t get hung up on numbers.

 Dig everything down to the basics.

 Don’t fall into the trap of the “Set up”

 Don’t just copy what everyone else is doing;

understand what their doing.

Understanding the Track Your Running At
What is the shape of your track.
Is it a large radius or short radius.
Is the track usually slick or is it tacky.
How does racing usually shape up. (is it up on
the cushion; is it around the hub)
What are the driving styles. (fast corner entry;
drag racing; early apex; cutting the apex;
drifting the straight)
 Holding It Together
Good maintenance!
Taking care of the car.
Managing Your Tires.
All Team members Taking Care of Each Other.
Keeping Team Spirit High.
Keep Focused at What is Important.
 Work Ethic
Spend Time Working at New Ideas.
Keep Working to Improve
Reading Books, Magazines, Online Blogs like
WWW.Hogantechnologies.com.
Keep Pushing Until You Reach Your Goal.
Tires and Traction
 What Creates Traction
Proper Loading of Each Tire at the Appropriate
Time.
Stretching the Tire to reach it’s Maximum
Traction.
Matching the Right Rubber Compound to
Track Conditions.
Getting the Tire Into the Correct Operating
Heat Range.
 Traction Circle
To keep tire at Maximum Amount of Acceleration
Traction, You need to trade Acceleration
Acceleration and steer
Maximum Traction
of Tire

Left Turn 0 Right Turn

0

Under Utilized
Traction
Tire Breaking
Loose
Amount of Steer Angle Braking
 Tire Slip Angle
The actual
direction traveled
will be a derivative
of the two.
As the tire is turned,
the center of the
contact patch is
The slip angle is the twisted.
difference between
the steered path and
the actual path of
the tire.
 Lateral Force and Slip Angle
Transition
Tire reaches it’s stretch limit and gets into the
2500 frictional area Edge of traction
Lateral Force Produced by Tire

circle
2000
Elastic or tire
Tire stops stretching
1500 Stretch
totally relies on frictional
traction
1000

500

2 4 6 8 10 12

Slip angle in Degrees

 Longitudinal Acceleration
Desired vehicle direction

At point that
Contact patch area is contact patch
stretched releases from
surface, it snaps
back into position
and propels car
forward

Contact Patch location

 Longitudinal Force and Slip Ratio
1500
Edge of traction circle
1250

1000
Tractive Force

750

500

250

.05 .10 .15 .20 .25 .30

Slip Ratio (%)
 Tire Grooving and Siping

 On tire rule tires, cutting tires

into a small pattern will help
build heat in tires.
 Small #1 blade cuts will allow
the tire to feel softer and grab
the asperities in the track
surface.
 Larger grooves will allow more
air to circulate around the blocks
and keep them cool.
 Larger grooves will also dig
into the track more than small
grooves.
 Sipes will help build heat into a
tire by creating friction within the
blocks.
Back Cutting Late Model Front
Tires Keeps Them Clean and Can
add Traction.
 Tires
Mounting and Preparation

Always mount tires with

serial number toward the
infield
 Don’t use excessive
moisture when mounting
tires
 Always keep tires clean
between use
 Be sure to use enough air
to push tire over safety bead
and seat tire
 Size and organize tires
before going to track
If possible use nitrogen or a
dry air system in tires.
 Tire Grinding
 Grinding takes the top calloused
surface off the tire.
 Grinding will even the surface and
take the top grained surface off the
tire.
 Grinding will take the mold
release off the surface of a new tire.
 Atmosphere and sunlight will
start to harden the surface of a tire.
 Grind your tires as close to the
time you are going to run them as
possible.
 Use anywhere between 60 and
120 grit sandpaper on a slow
moving grinder to buff the surface.
 Use aluminum disks where tire
rules prohibit siping.
 Front Suspension

Understanding and Adjustment

 Caster
King Pin Angle
Upper Ball Joint

Positive Caster

Lower Ball Joint

Front
 Caster
• Caster effect creates a neutralizing or
centering effect to the steering.
• Caster creates a caster wedging when tires are
turned.
• Too little caster car becomes darty and
inconsistent.
• Too much caster makes the car sluggish and
difficult to turn from center.
 Camber
No Camber
Camber
 Camber
No Camber
Camber

Camber Thrust
 Camber
• Camber can add side bite to a tire.
• Excessive camber can cause an un equal
loading to the tire contact patch. Lack of
footprint.
• Excessive camber will make the inside tire run
too hot.
• Too little camber will not load the inside of the
tire enough and take away side bite.
Camber Gain

Roll angle is 0
degrees
 Camber Gain

Body roll will take camber

out so gain needs to be
added to compensate Roll angle 5 degrees
 Stagger Camber
1 to 2 degrees
camber

Left Rear Right Rear

 Stagger Torque
 The smaller tire will travel a smaller distance
for each revolution than the larger radius
tire.
 There will be a backward pulling torque on
the smaller tire.
 There will be a forward pushing torque on
the larger tire.
 Advantages of Stagger

It will help the car turn a larger radius corner

by steering the axle.

Will add additional camber, and then will add

side bite.
 Disadvantages of Stagger
Stagger torque will have to scrub
one of the tires when traveling in a
straight line.
If left rear is at maximum traction,
the right rear will be past it’s
optimum traction for the given tires
slip ratio.
 Anti-Dive
Upper and lower
Brake torque holds the control arm pivots
chassis up

Front of car
Side view
 Pro-Dive
Upper and lower
control arm pivots
Brake torque pushes
down on the front of the
car

Front of car
Side view
 Anti-Dive Tuning
 Pro-dive in right
front and anti dive in
left front helps car
squat on right front
under braking and
helps car turn.
 Adding or removing
shims on lower control
arm strut mount.
 Slotted upper
control arm mounts
for cars that can’t
adjust lowers.
 A small amount of
anti-dive can provide a
little stability.
 Toe
Front of car

Toe out = front of tires wider

than rear
Excessive toe can compensate
Toe in = front of tire narrower
for reverse Ackerman
than rear
 Bump Steer
 Bump steer should be kept to a minimum, but a little used strategically can be
beneficial.
 Some use bump out on the right front to add some stability to car under dive and
roll.
 Some use bump out on left front to add slip angle as car rolls over and starts left
turn into corner.
 Bump steer should be set to at least bump out, if not to zero.
 Concentrate on right front under compression and left front under drop.
 Reasonable parameters: .010 in three inches, pretty close to zero for a dirt car;
.050 in three inches if you plan on bumping a corner out to tune.
 The type of track and competition determines precision in bump steer.
Bump Steer Correct

The tie rod needs to move in the

same arc as spindle and especially
the lower control arm.
Bump Steer / Steer Arm Too Short

The tie rod will move in a tighter

arc and pull the spindle towards
toe in under bump and rebound
Bump Steer / Tie Rod Too Long

If the tie rod is too long spindle will

toe out under bump and rebound.
Bump Steer / Tie Rod Too High on
Inner Pick Up

If the tie rod is too high on the rack

side, the spindle will toe out under
bump and toe in under drop.
Bump Steer / Tie Rod Too High on
Spindle Side

If tie rod is too high on spindle side,

spindle will toe in under bump and
toe out under drop.
 Roll Center

What is actually going on in the front end, my take on the

subject.

Do we really know where the front roll center really is?

The importance of instance centers and corner jacking.

 Ideas on kinematic torque on spindles.

Typical Dirt Stock Car Front End Model

Upper ball joint Upper control

arm inner
pivot

Lower ball joint

Right Front Tire Lower control arm

inner pivot
 Roll Center / Instant Centers

Left instant Right instant

center center

Right front tire

 Roll Center

Left instant Right instant

center center

Right front tire

Kinematic Roll
Center
 Roll Center Movement

Right Front Tire

Roll center moved right
under dive and roll
 Force Application Point (FAP)

Left instant Right instant

Center of Gravity (CG)
center center

Right front tire

Force application points Kinematic Roll
FAP
Center
 Ackerman
Positive Ackerman is the
inside tire turning at a larger
degree angle than the
outside tire; creating more A>B
toe out as turning angle is
increased.

A B
 Ackerman
Negative Ackerman is the
inside tire turning at a smaller
degree angle than the
outside tire; creating toe in as
A<B
turning angle is increased.

A B
 Ackerman
As weight starts to transfer
off of inside front tire under
turn entry; adding positive
Ackerman can add more slip A>B
angle to that tire and in turn
add grip to that tire.

A B

Weight
Weight Transfer
 There is two basic kinds of weight
transfer.

1. Kinematic Weight Transfer: weight transfer

through suspension linkages (Fast)

2. Elastic Weight Transfer: weight transfer

through springs (slow)

 Three Axis's of Rotation

1. X axis: Longitudinal axis (front to rear)

2. Y axis: Lateral axis (side to side)

3. Z axis: Vertical axis (up and down)

 Polar Moment
Rotation Around the Z axis

Polar Moment
Rotation Axis

200 Lbs 200 Lbs

Slow reacting, Sluggish

Harder to Start Rotation
Harder to Stop Rotation
 Polar Moment
Rotation Around the Z axis

Polar Moment
Rotation Axis

400 Lbs

Fast Reacting
Easier to Start Rotation
Easier to Stop Rotation
Lateral Weight Transfer
Rotation around the Y axis

Slow reacting, Sluggish

200Lbs Harder to Start Rotation
Harder to Stop Rotation
More weight transfer

Roll Axis, Roll Center

Lateral Weight Transfer
Rotation around the Y axis

Fast reacting
Harder to Start Rotation
Harder to Stop Rotation
Less Total Transfer

200 Lbs

Roll Axis, Roll Center

 Longitudinal Weight Transfer
Rotation around the X axis

200 Lbs
Pitch Center

Slow reacting, sluggish, Harder to start, harder to stop, more transfer

Longitudinal Weight Transfer
Rotation around the X axis

Pitch Center

200 Lbs

Fast Reacting, Easier to start, Easier to Stop, Less transfer

 Anti-Squat
• Adding more angle to the third (torque
control) link makes traction happens sooner
and run out sooner.
• Taking more angle out will have less
instantaneous traction, but will pull further
down the straight.
 Anti Squat
• Moving third (torque control) link towards
either side will load that side more and
sooner.
• The draw back of high amounts of anti squat is
wheel hop under deceleration.
• The original torque arm devises were
mounted right of center to counter balance
rear end torque.
Best Aerodynamic Attitude
Chassis Yaw
Chassis yaw will add
down force as well as
tighten car.

Aerodynamic force

Force of the rear end pushing to

outside keeps tire stretched to
keep side bite in tire as car arcs
the straight.
 Body Shift

Aerodynamic force
adds down force and
tightens car even
Having front of body
when pointed straight
outside of the rear
pulls air out from
under the car