Printable Version | Subscribe | Add to Favourites
New Topic New Poll New Reply
Author: Subject: optimum steering wheel distance from your body
jon200

posted on 30/10/11 at 07:36 PM Reply With Quote
optimum steering wheel distance from your body

what sort of angle is best in your arms? I want to bring the wheel out a little to give some more leg room for my knees. I'm either going to make a Bigger boss for the existing wheel or get a dished wheel? Anyone got pics of their aftermarket steering wheels so I can compare?

Jon

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
franky

posted on 30/10/11 at 07:47 PM Reply With Quote
I'd hazard a guess at what ever feels best and most natural for yourself...
View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
scudderfish

posted on 30/10/11 at 07:53 PM Reply With Quote
Years back I did a driver training day at Lotus, and there recommendation was that you should be able to rest your wrists on the top of the steering wheel.






View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
jon200

posted on 30/10/11 at 08:01 PM Reply With Quote
I was thinking that whatever felt comfy would be best but didn't want to get it too close so it looked odd.

was that with straight arms onto the top of the wheel?

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Bare

posted on 30/10/11 at 08:21 PM Reply With Quote
One of the initial (and IMO ongoing) criticisms of the LoCost type design was that the cockpit was overly long.
Which besides making the car look decidedly 'wrong', also put the steering wheel wayyy too distant from the driver.
The wrist on the wheel distance seems a decent rule of thumb.
Now are you early enough in your build to move the scuttle rearwards as well ?

View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
mistergrumpy

posted on 30/10/11 at 08:33 PM Reply With Quote
We're taught wrists on wheel at work too.
View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
coyoteboy

posted on 30/10/11 at 09:00 PM Reply With Quote
Was also taught wrists on top of wheel or slightly closer
View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
jon200

posted on 30/10/11 at 09:03 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Bare
One of the initial (and IMO ongoing) criticisms of the LoCost type design was that the cockpit was overly long.
Which besides making the car look decidedly 'wrong', also put the steering wheel wayyy too distant from the driver.
The wrist on the wheel distance seems a decent rule of thumb.
Now are you early enough in your build to move the scuttle rearwards as well ?


its already built so I can't move the scuttle. ii just thought, if I space the wheel toward me I can't touch the indicator stalks properly!

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Peteff

posted on 30/10/11 at 09:05 PM Reply With Quote
When I had mine I built it so it looked right then after a couple of months I had to move the wheel 3" closer and sit the seat more upright as it was sending my arm numb due to an old shoulder injury. Set it up so it fits you and don't worry about convention.





yours, Pete

I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
mad-butcher

posted on 31/10/11 at 09:12 AM Reply With Quote
wrists on wheel 100%, allows for fingers to be used to roll cigarettes, or in the case of younger non smoking drivers "texting"
View User's Profile E-Mail User Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
ffrgtm

posted on 31/10/11 at 01:01 PM Reply With Quote
You want the steering wheel as close to your body as possible without restricting your own motion. From a physics standpoint you want your forearms 90 degrees to your upper arms. This gives you the largest mechanical advantage on the steering wheel, allowing you to better feel the gradual drop off of self-aligning torque generated by the front slip angles right at the peak lateral force they can generate.


Here's some other good info
quote:

The adjustments of the steering wheel Modern cars allow to adjust the steering height in an arch, and often to adjust it inside and out. The cars that have the latter option usually allow for a near-perfect posture, especially for those with long arms and short legs, or vice versa. The adjustments are supposed to allow a good reach of the wheel, as well as a comfortable grip of it and a clear view at the instrument cluster. The higher the steering wheel is, the higher are our arms holding it relative to our shoulders. This makes us lean our arms forward so the grip becomes more of a toll to the shoulders, but allows to steer more freely. The lower the steering wheel is, the easier it is to grip it, but the more restricted is the movement of our arms by the sides of our bodies and, if too low, by our knees. However, the steering also becomes more precise because it's guided more by the forearms and not the arms. The closer the wheel to us, the easier is our reach, but it might be too close for comfort, so our body restricts the free movement of the arms, or that there is an imminent risk of bashing the wheel in a crash. Also, the lower should the wheel be kept so that it isn't held too high or placed too offset relative to the back angle. The idea is to use the adjustment to the wheel to bring it closer to us and as parallel to the angle of the back as possible. If you can't reach a sufficient angle, you need to compensate by bring the wheel closer and lower and, if this does not work, change the angle of the back and, if nothing works, change the positioning of the seat as a whole. We also need to try and reach a situation where our hands grip the wheel at 9 and 3, while being lower than our shoulders. For general road driving purpose, a gap of five centimeters is a good compromise. For highway driving, you can set it lower, to a gap of as much as ten centimeters, and for racing purposes it should be just lower than the shoulder itself. You might need to compromise the exact height to ensure proper reach of the wheel and a good view at the instrument panel. Remember that you are still to adjust the seat height. If you have the choice of the wheel size, keep in mind that a bigger wheel is less comfortable to grip, requires longer motions, but is more accurate. A smaller wheels is more comfortable to grip, heavier to turn, but easier to operate for large steering inputs. A good wheel should be about 5 centimeters tighter than your shoulder width, and change depending on the nature of the track: Tight and winding, or full of long straights.



from here: http://www.trackpedia.com/wiki/Seating_position

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
adithorp

posted on 31/10/11 at 01:53 PM Reply With Quote
I find 90 degrees to close and restictive. A lot seem to prefer stright which seems more fashion than practical.

I remember a newspaper article back in the eighties where Hannu Mikkola was giving winter driving advice. Basically it said there's lots of opinions, distances and angles you can measure for steering wheel position but, what you want is with your shoulders back and relaxed, hold the wheel with one hand at either 3 or 9 o'clock. Then turn it 1/2 a turn through 12o'clock and you should be able to reach that point with only a little movement of the shoulder from the seat.

That works out as about 120degrees at the elbow for me. Wrists on the wheel means stretching on lock (for me), which isn't good in a harness.





"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire

http://jpsc.org.uk/forum/

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Fred W B

posted on 31/10/11 at 05:32 PM Reply With Quote
First reference I read to "wrists on wheel" was stated by Jackie Stewart, in his heyday. If its good enough for him, it's good enough for me.

Cheers

Fred W B





You can do it quickly. You can do it cheap. You can do it right. – Pick any two.

View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
jon200

posted on 2/11/11 at 02:37 AM Reply With Quote
Cheers peeps, I will just have a play. Probably best i dont leave it all loose and drive up the road to soo how it feels though eh.

If my harness is tight i struggle to steer correctly/comfortably so it must be wrong.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member

New Topic New Poll New Reply


go to top






Website design and SEO by Studio Montage

All content © 2001-16 LocostBuilders. Reproduction prohibited
Opinions expressed in public posts are those of the author and do not necessarily represent
the views of other users or any member of the LocostBuilders team.
Running XMB 1.8 Partagium [© 2002 XMB Group] on Apache under CentOS Linux
Founded, built and operated by ChrisW.