Why is one car faster than another through the same corner? This course builds the answer from the physics you already know — Newton's laws, friction and moments — up to the tools race engineers use to set up a car. Every lesson pairs short explanations with interactive models you can push to the limit.
This course is written for second-year mechanical engineering students. You should be comfortable with:
Companion text: W. F. Milliken & D. L. Milliken, Race Car Vehicle Dynamics (SAE R-146). Chapter references appear as RCVD Ch. n tags.
Lessons in italics are planned and show an outline only. Your progress is saved in this browser.
The one idea to take away from a section.
Guided experiments to run in the interactive above it.
A fully worked calculation with real numbers.
A tempting wrong idea, and why it is wrong.
What to read in Milliken, with questions to guide your reading.
Each lesson ends with numeric problems (with unit-error hints and worked solutions) and concept questions.
Every numeric answer box in the course is also a calculator. Instead of working out a number on a separate calculator and copying it across, you can type the calculation itself. The box shows a live = value preview underneath, so you can check that it reads your expression the way you meant before you press Check. Your expression is saved, so when you come back you can see how you got your answer.
Click an example to load it:
| Type | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
+ - | Add, subtract | 120+101.3 |
* / | Multiply, divide | 3000/1200 |
^ or ** | Power | 1.5^2 = 2.25 |
( ) | Group terms | (28.5-30)/30 |
1.2e3 | Scientific notation (1.2 × 10³) | 9e4/3000 = 30 |
| (no sign) | Multiplication before a name or bracket | 2pi, 3(4+1) |
| Type | Value |
|---|---|
pi | π = 3.14159… |
g | 9.81 (m/s², the value used throughout this course) |
e | 2.71828… (base of natural logarithms) |
deg | π/180, so sin(30*deg) works in degrees |
Functions always need brackets: sqrt(2), not sqrt 2.
| Type | Meaning |
|---|---|
sqrt(x), cbrt(x) | Square root, cube root |
abs(x) | Absolute value |
exp(x), ln(x) | ex, natural log |
log(x) | Base-10 log (same as log10) |
sin cos tan | Trig with the angle in radians |
sind cosd tand | Trig with the angle in degrees |
asin acos atan | Inverse trig, answer in radians |
asind acosd atand | Inverse trig, answer in degrees |
atan2(y, x) | Angle of the point (x, y), radians |
min(a, b, …), max(…) | Smallest or largest value |
pow(a, b) | ab, same as a^b |
You can also paste calculator symbols: × ÷ − π √ ² ³.
-2^2 is −4; write (-2)^2 for +4.1/2pi means (1/2)·π. For 1/(2π), type 1/(2pi). Check the preview!sin(30) is the sine of 30 radians. Use sind(30) or sin(30*deg).1236 or 1,236, not 1 236.180/3.6 m/s. The unit the answer needs is shown beside each box.