ummm, the Watt's link is the shit. The car LOVES it. Back to Road Atlanta

Posted By Mike Kojima on 12-14-2010 09:20 AM

Watts links suck.

 

People who road race Mustangs love the things.  What sucks about them?

Bind, inside wheel lift, bad roll center location, interference with diffuser if you try to fix the roll center issues and a bunch of other stuff I don't have time to explain. Remember just because you read it on some forum doesn't mean it right. There are reasons why race cars don't use them anymore.

The driver said that the rear of the car would "squat" as the lateral forces loaded up and that understeer went away. Less roll in the rear is placing less load on the outside front tire during cornering, probably due to the roll axis improvement. Just getting rid of the compliance of all the rubber in the Scott Russel link is a plus.

Is it the best? IDK.... Are we going to stick with it for 2011? Based on driver feedback, YES, it'll stay on the car. We are aero limited anyway, so it's not going to get in the way of a diffuser.

Will I put one on the B14 I'm building? YES.

The other side of it is that in the 2011 NASA rules, a Watt's is now considered equivalent to a Scott Russel link.

If you are going to build something, don't use a watts link. A long and properly designed panhard rod is much better.

Another thing I forgot is variable roll center to end point from side to side, short moment arm that induces jacking. It is bettter than the scott russel linkage which is the worst thing in the world.