How do friction help racing cars?

Answer 1

No, as far as movement goes, friction is not required.

Too much friction would slow a car to a halt, remove it and it'd glide along.

Granted you need friction to steer, but not to move.

As far as engines go, friction is what wears them down over time.

The key to making more efficient cars is less friction.

Answer 2

The assumption is you mean tire friction, there are very few cars with a kinetic energry recovery systems. in a straight line friction between the tires and the road is wastefull but unaviodable, make sure your tire pressure is correct for best performance, acveleration,braking,ride quality,and gas mileage all suffer when tires are under and over inflated. Now to answer how friction helps your car, the suspension on a car reacts to the road surface, and the geometry of the upper and lower controll arms change as the springs and shock absorbers bound and rebound. This variable geometry is important because while turning the momentum of the car wants to go on while the tires try to change the direction of travel. As you turn the wieght of the car shifts to one side compressing the suspension, this is when the upper controll ARM is pushed down and in while the bottom is forced down and out tilting the tire into a positive camber, that means the top of the tire is tilted inward and the contact patch,( the amount of tire touching the road) is shifted to the inside edge of the tire, the angle change is very small less than 2 degrees but it is enough tilt onto the inside egdge to make the tire actually ride flat on the ground, due to the weight of the car pushing forward and the give in tthe sidewall of the tire. If the tire wasn't canted inward the momentum of the car would roll the contact patch to the outside edge creating underdsteer, that is when you turn the steering wheel and the car goes straight or doesn't corner in proportion to how far the steering has turned. So tire friction is both an issue and a neccesity, depending on what you are doing. For best performance keep tires inflated to the correct pressure and ensure they are the correct size for the car. The tire pressure and size can be found on a sticker somewhere on the drivers side door jamb while the door is open. Bald tires dont help much either.

All cars fight the same forces of momentum and correct for them with camber some do it better than others. And only if all suspension components are present and in working order. I do or did have an ASE suspension and steering cert. It is expired now because I no longer proffesionally service cars. And some advice, the next time you want to do performance upgrades forget the exhaust,intake,the wing,and the fake carbon fibre, a suspension and brake upgrade is what most cars need, even just a set of good tires will improve your car much more than any bolt on "performance junk"

Answer 3

because of the friction between the tires and the road.

Answer 4

No it can either make it unsafe or illegal but either way your mot and insurance will not be valid.

Answer 5

The force of friction is what "grips" tires to the track. If there was no friction, the cars wouldn't be able to turn, heck, they wouldn't be able to start moving in the first place!

Answer 6

No, friction slows it down

Answer 7

Yes