World leaders in providing proprietary data and privacy testing for racing customers.
The Öhlins 7-Post vehicle dynamics simulator, or shake rig, is designed for testing a broad range of vehicles from stock cars, Indy cars to street cars. The 7-Post shake rig consists of one road actuator under each wheel, combined with three downforce actuators that connect directly to the chassis, making it possible to replicate the suspension movements from the track. The road actuators are used to simulate the track surface, bumps, curbs and surface roughness. The downforce actuators are used to simulate loads from aero, banking and load transfer due to cornering, braking or accelerating.
To replicate the track on the 7-Post shake rig, the engineers at Öhlins can use either data acquired at the track by the customer or they can generate a track profile from information from the team about the vehicle and the track. Using the data measured with the 7-Post shake rig, the engineers at Öhlins can accurately verify and optimize performance parameters such as tire load variation, a measurement of mechanical grip, for various chassis and suspension settings.
The Öhlins 7-Post shake rig serves a major role in helping teams develop and evaluate the vehicle dynamics performance of their race cars regardless of which damper brand they are using. For a fraction of the cost of on track testing, Öhlins Engineers can effectively and efficiently analyze and optimize your cars chassis and suspension components. At the rig, a “lap” can be repeated hundreds of times to evaluate changes without the influence of changing conditions of the track or tires. This is done without logging any running time on engine, gearbox, tires etc.
Tireless testing is now available for stock cars and others. Using spring stands instead of tires, Öhlins are able to replicate a rolling tire better and the repeatability of the tests is improved. This has also proved popular since race type tires are harder to get in some series.
A test at the Öhlins 7-Post shake rig has a number of advantages:
• Tests are very repeatable, independent of changes in weather and track conditions
• The wear of the car is minimal, no hours on engine and drive train
• The need of testing personnel can be minimized
• The risk of damaging the car due to a crash or mechanical failure is eliminated
• A rig test can be made before car is complete, use of dummy engine etc is possible
• When running tire less testing the need of obtaining tires close to the race tires to test
with is eliminated
• On site damper expertise to help with damper settings
At the Öhlins 7-Post shake rig we can do several different tests, among others:
• With data form the track or a synthetic road profile optimize the chassis setup for
mechanical grip and stability
• Find a good baseline chassis setup for a car previously not tested
• Improve and fine tune a previously known chassis setup
• Adapt an existing setup from one track to another
• Measure roll stiffness from the anti roll bars and springs
• Measure the suspension friction to find problems at specific components in the car
Examples of Öhlins test plans for different purposes and involvement:
• Spring matrixes to help select which spring combination are most suitable for body
control and mechanical grip
• Damper matrixes to help select the best compromise in damping between mechanical
grip and body control.
• Compliance stiffness measurements.
• Suspension stiffness measurements.
• Mechanical balance and roll stiffness distribution.
• Suspension friction measurements.
• Race weekend and on track support programs available.
• Statistical analysis of large datasets
• Model identification and simulation verification
• Track simulation, deriving road profiles from track data
• Race weekend and test support available
A shake rig test is an economical complement to on track testing for teams of all levels. Öhlins has experience with customers from short tests of road cars to long test programs with extensive statistic analysis of the results. Multiple day programs with discounts are available.
Give us a call to discuss how we can help you take your performance to the next level and add your name to our list of over 100 world champions using our products and services.
If you have any questions or for booking, please contact:
Christer Lööw
7-Post shake rig
Engineering Manager
Tel: 828-692-4525 ext:317
Cell: 828-329-7203
E-mail: christer.loow@ohlinsusa.com
E-mail: shakerig@ohlinsusa.com