Dynamics and Simulation of RWD Vehicles Drifting at Steady State using BNP-MNC Tire Model

Drifting, a very popular challenge in the recent motorsport, is a cornering technique with large angle of sideslip when rear tires encounter with combined slip over the linear region of the slip-tire friction characteristic. Besides, this technique is frequently used by expert rally drivers in order to ensure that the vehicle will not understeer. In this work, steady state cornering of a RWD vehicle on plane, with constant speed, sideslip and radius of curvature, was simplified via the single track vehicle model. In addition, BNP magic formula, along with MNC model, was used to estimate tire frictions. The computer program was developed, based on EOMs derived via body fixed coordinate, in order to calculate a suitable cornering speed and corresponding open-loop driving control inputs, steering angle and rear slip ratio, for a given radius of curvature and vehicle sideslip. By comparing the obtainable cornering speeds relating to different sideslips at various radii of curvature, the low-sideslip driving provides maximum speed for almost all radii; however, drifting is faster in some special radius. Due to this advantageous, the development of automatic drifting assistant may be feasible.