Thanks!! I'm trying to understand what influences the handling of a car, but the more you read about it the more questions come up.


I was reading more on the roll centres and how they move during cornering. Apparently they don't only move up and down, but also sideways. That is because the roll centres is not the intersection of the line from the tyre patch to the instant centre with the centre of the car, but it is the intersection of the lines from both tyre patches to both instant centres. In a stationary situation everything is symmetrical, so it is in the centre of the car. But during cornering both instant centres move and it becomes quite complicated where the roll centre ends up.


What also happens with a high roll centre is that you get 'jacking forces' that push the car up. What basically happens is that the forces go through the suspension arms instead of the springs and the suspension arms push the car up. This can be seen very well on a swing arm suspension like this:



Anyway, on the question what will make the car handle best. There are lots of opinions on this in general. But mine is to have the thickest anti-roll bars as possible, with stiff bushes to be able to run as soft springs as possible. On the front I think the TCAs should be in such a way that they go slightly down from the cross member towards the knuckles. That way the position of the front roll centre shouldn't move too much during cornering.


For the rear the 6 degree beam is good, and I guess it would be best combined with solid beam mounts to make sure the toe doesn't change by the beam moving around underneath the car. Also the ride height on the rear shouldn't be too low because that increases the squat from the rear during acceleration. And if the rear is low the camber and toe will also change faster than at a higher ride height.


For the springs it's best to not run a very stiff spring as a softer spring provides more grip. The only downside of the softer springs is that you get more body roll and the camber angles will be less good. On a track that is very smooth that will be fine, but on a bumpy road you want the softer springs to keep the wheels better on the ground. So in the end it's all a compromise and really depends what you want from the car.


I'm definately not an expert on chassis dynamics and I also have not tested much on these things, so everything is based on my (limited) knowledge and experience. But everything can always be better, just look at the development on F1 cars.