August 2010

The Focus On The Driver

The Early Years

From the 1920’s through the 1950’s, tires were tall and skinny and their contact patch was so small that details of wheel alignment did not seem to matter much. Throughout this period the engine was the dominant component that anyone knew how to improve. This focus, on increasing horsepower, resulted in more and more power with little improvement in handling.

The realities of high horsepower and very light cars became progressively evident from the 1960’s and into the 1980’s. Serious attention to design and application was concentrated on separate engine,  chassis, suspension and aerodynamic development programs.

Increasing loads on the chassis to improve straight line and cornering grip dictated: “fat” tires, better brakes and progressively sophisticated suspension and aerodynamic systems.

The 1990’s focused the interdependence of these separate programs into a discipline. A shift had occurred. Horsepower was no longer the major component of the go-fast equation. The Science of engineering a complete race car had been born. However, for many, even today, the early years legacy of a dominant focus on horsepower still exists.