Camber

Camber is the angle of a race car's wheels when viewed from the front or rear, measuring how much the top of the tire tilts inward or outward compared to a perfectly vertical position.

To understand camber, imagine looking at your car head-on. If the tops of the tires lean toward the center of the car, that's called negative camber. If they lean away from the car, that's positive camber. When the wheels stand perfectly straight up and down, you have zero camber.

In motorsport, teams adjust camber angles to improve how the car handles, especially during cornering. Negative camber is the most common setup in racing because it helps maximize tire grip when the car leans through a turn. As the vehicle's body rolls during cornering, the outside tire naturally wants to lean outward. Starting with negative camber helps keep the tire's contact patch flat against the track surface, giving the driver more grip and faster cornering speeds.

However, camber adjustment involves important trade-offs. Too much negative camber might help in corners, but it reduces the tire's contact patch on straightaways. This means less grip for acceleration and braking, plus faster tire wear since only the inner edge of the tire touches the road. The tire can also overheat more quickly, potentially causing blistering or failure.

Different racing disciplines use different camber settings. Formula 1 cars typically run significant negative camber to handle high-speed corners. Drift cars often use extreme negative camber on the front wheels to compensate for their aggressive steering angles. On oval tracks, teams might use different camber on each side of the car because the vehicle only turns in one direction, and the track itself is banked.

Zero camber provides the best straight-line performance because the entire tire width contacts the road surface. This setup is common in regular street cars where even tire wear and predictable handling matter more than maximum cornering speed. Positive camber is rare in motorsport but sometimes appears on off-road vehicles or in specific oval racing applications.

Race teams adjust camber using specialized equipment like digital camber gauges or laser alignment systems. They might install camber plates or adjustable control arms that allow fine-tuning of the wheel angle. Engineers use data from wind tunnels, computer simulations, and track testing to determine the optimal camber setting for each circuit and weather condition.

The term "camber gain" describes how the camber angle changes as the suspension compresses and extends. Good suspension geometry maintains optimal camber throughout the suspension's travel, keeping the tire properly planted whether the car hits a bump or dives under braking. Finding the perfect camber setting is always a balancing act between cornering grip, tire longevity, and straight-line performance.