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EJ12
 
See also:
The car for 2002
The timescales
The design process
The regulation changes
Making it happen
The monocoque
Vehicle dynamics
The transmission
The uprights
Rear suspension
EJ12 - front suspension

The front suspension on a Formula One car is made up of two distinct groups; the external ones, like wishbones, pushrods and trackrods and those that fit inside the monocoque, like the torsion bars - which are basically springs, dampers, the central spring and assorted parts.

All these items attach to the chassis, so before he can start work, front suspension specialist Keith Barclay has to wait patiently, like a father in a maternity unit, waiting for the EJ12 monocoque design to be delivered, so he can get on with designing the suspension. "The first priority is to start packaging the internal bits," says Barclay. "Then I have to wait for the aerodynamic people to give me aerofoil sections and their angles, so I can work on the external components, as they give me data regarding the profile of the wishbones and the angle they sit at in relation to the ground. This comes through about one month after the chassis. I can then start drawing the parts."

Keith Barclay
Keith Barclay

The internal parts have to fit tidily inside the front of the tub and for the 2002 car, Barclay faces a stiffer design challenge than usual. "I lay out the internals for the entire front end of the car, which includes the pedals and steering rack. I don't do the design for these parts, but I work on the packaging. It's very tight, especially as I try to improve accessibility for the mechanics so they can change parts quicker. A new layout for EJ12 has lowered the centre of gravity and uses lighter parts, as you are always trying to make things lighter, stiffer and easier to work on.

With the exception of the upper rear wishbone, which has to withstand heat from the exhaust system, all the wishbones are carbon fibre. "We define the angles they sit at and where the pick ups are on the chassis," continues Barclay. "These give us the geometry that provides the desired suspension characteristics. Roll centres, camber and caster changes are all defined by us. By changing the pick up points on the chassis and on the upright (the wheel end of the suspension) you can change those characteristics. The EJ12 chassis is quite different and has had a marked influence on where I can put the pick up points on the chassis."

Barclay will design more than one suspension, as each wishbone is designed for a specific set of characteristics. For example, F1 cars have a system called anti-dive, which effectively controls how much the front of the car moves towards the ground, under braking, as the weight of the car is transferred from the rear to the front. Jordan used three different version of anti-dive, each providing a different degree of movement. Each of those anti-dives required a different set of wishbones, brackets, uprights and camber blocks, as there is no adjustability in the wishbones themselves.