toe in / toe out

Adjusting your race car's toe can affect three important areas of your setup… Tire wear, straight-line stability, and corner-entry handling.

Within iRacing, we have some vehicles that allow front and rear toe settings.

The less toe you have (in or out) is likely going to give you the least tire wear in most cases. Here are some examples of how toe will affect your race car:[1]

  • Front toe-out will introduce a bit of oversteer (looser)
  • Front toe-in will produce the opposite - understeer (tighter)
  • Steering response will be improved with front toe-out
  • Straight-line stability will be improved with front toe-in

Road course race cars are normally set up with front toe-in for better straight-line stability, but cornering ability can be reduced this way.

Oval race cars are normally set up with front toe-out, which reduces straight-line stability but will help provide extra grip in corners and braking zones as the left-front wheel turns at more of an angle to the left than the right-front.

toe-out example[2] oval toe[2]
toeout1.gif toeout2.gif

Within the iRacing sim, it is important to take note that on oval race cars, you have a front "toe-in" setting. If you have negative toe-in, then you actually have toe-out.

Bibliography
1. Intrax, "Camber, Caster, Toe-in, Toe-out." Intrax Racing Suspension. http://www.intraxracing.nl/?cat=productpage&id=438&title=Camber,_Caster,_Toe-in,_Toe-out&lang=EN (Jan. 19, 2010)
2. AutoWare, "Toe-out and Handling, steering geometry & front end alignment." AutoWare Inc. http://www.auto-ware.com/setup/toe_hand.htm (Jan. 19, 2010)
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