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MTV<=>Operator wrote:I haven't tried this strategy yet, but you could try placing an object on the track where you want the vehicle to be aimed and use a scope to point it towards that object. That object would be at the angle that you wish to aim it at and you would know where to place it by measuring off of the CTP which should be constant for every run.

Where do you place the object?

I'm not the best at geometry, so for a fixed curve, what angle do you usually point to the right? Is it the same every time or does it change depending on the location of the VTP?

sciencecat42 wrote:I'm not the best at geometry, so for a fixed curve, what angle do you usually point to the right? Is it the same every time or does it change depending on the location of the VTP?

It’ll vary. It’s calculable with trig but odds are your alignment device won’t sit perfectly straight on your vehicle. Your best bet is to just find the right offset through trial and error

So here is what I have been doing. I 3D printed a little piece that goes over the CTP which has an 8 meter sting attached to it. the other end of the string attaches to the device the MTV is placed on. Basically it is a long band of acrylic with two little things that flip up and hold the MTV. Then there is a caliper with one side attached to this acrylic piece and the other is free to extend thus creating an angle with the acrylic piece and the other arm of the caliper which remains on the center line drawn by the sting. The measurement we put on the caliper dictates the initial angle. Also, if you draw the track in AutoCad and draw a circle that touches the VSP, CTP and any desired VTP, and draw a tangent to the circle at the VSP you can measure the angle between the center line and the tangent line which would yield the theoretical initial offset angle for the interval to which the circle corresponds. Of course this is just a theoretical angle and you may will probably have to change it to compensate for over/under steering. Hope I helped.