To make the car as easy and reliable to drive as possible while keeping it aerodynamically stable and quick to respond. Suspension owns the corners of the car: arms, rods, bellcranks, uprights, spindles, top mounts, wheels, anti-roll bars, dampers and springs, and the entire brake system. It also owns vehicle dynamics: tire selection, kinematics, load transfer, and the setup the car races on.
- Control the vehicle platform so it is consistent and predictable, which is what lets the aerodynamic package work and what lets drivers extract performance. - Improve the vehicle dynamics models and the structural and fatigue models each year, and validate them against measurement rather than trusting FEA alone. - Maintain system weight within 1 lb while capability grows. CR26I suspension system: 85.54 lb measured, 1.19 lb below CR25. - Design to a risk-graded factor of safety rather than a single number: 1.2 for a component with a ready spare, 1.4 if replacing it costs 1-3 hours of drive time, 1.5 as the FAA-style default, 1.6 if it cannot be replaced trackside, 1.8 for loss of a system, 2.0 for loss of multiple systems. - Reduce compliance and stiction in the moving assembly, and reduce rolling resistance in bearing retention. - Hold lateral load transfer distribution inside the range kinematics asks for, with enough anti-roll adjustability to move it. CR26I: 39.55% front with no bump stops, 48.20% on bump stops only.