A skidpad or skidpan is a circular area of flat pavement used for various tests of a

car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

's handling. The most common skidpad use is testing lateral

acceleration In mechanics, acceleration is the Rate (mathematics), rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Acceleration is one of several components of kinematics, the study of motion. Accelerations are Euclidean vector, vector ...

, measured in

meters per second squared The metre per second squared or metre per square second is the unit of acceleration in the International System of Units (SI). As a derived unit, it is composed from the SI base units of length, the metre, and of time, the second. Its symbol is w ...

(m/s²) or the scaled unit ''g''-force. This usage has similarities to that of using a kick plate.

Measurement of grip

A car's maximum ''g''-force on a skid pad says something about the grip of the car on winding roads, or how fast it can drive in corners without losing grip. Some factors which can aid in achieving higher ''g''-force are high

power Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...

, wide

tire A tire (North American English) or tyre (Commonwealth English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineeri ...

s, low

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

, appropriate

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Car suspension * Cell suspension or suspension culture, in biology * Guarded suspension, a software design pattern in concurrent programming suspending a method call and the calling ...

setup and large

downforce Downforce is a downwards lift force created by the aerodynamic features of a vehicle. If the vehicle is a car, the purpose of downforce is to allow the car to travel faster by increasing the vertical force on the tires, thus creating more gri ...

Test setup

The test is carried out on a circular track with a defined

radius In classical geometry, a radius (: radii or radiuses) of a circle or sphere is any of the line segments from its Centre (geometry), center to its perimeter, and in more modern usage, it is also their length. The radius of a regular polygon is th ...

. A car driving on said track is slowly accelerated, until the outermost tires on the car begin to slip. Going any faster would cause the car to drive outside the defined radius. At this point, the speed of the car is recorded, and given the

centripetal acceleration In mechanics, acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Acceleration is one of several components of kinematics, the study of motion. Accelerations are vector quantities (in that they have magn ...

formula (by the formula ''v''²/''r'', that is velocity squared divided by radius) the car's handling in terms of the maximum of lateral ''g''s can be derived.

Other uses and Records

A new

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

was accomplished in November 2020, when the

Porsche Taycan The Porsche Taycan is a battery electric luxury sports sedan and shooting brake car produced by German automobile manufacturer Porsche. The concept version of the Taycan named the ''Porsche Mission E'', debuted at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor ...

set the ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

'' best mark for longest electric vehicle drift on the skidpad (measured in time). The car stayed sideways for in 55 minutes.

Formula Student

The

for the fastest skidpad run in an official competition was achieved by TU Graz Racing from the Technical University of Graz. With a final time of 4.135 s at Formula Student East 2024, the team beat their old record of 4.355s, set at Formula Student Austria 2024, by 0.220s.

References

{{AutomotiveHandlingNav Automotive safety

Measurement of grip

Test setup

Other uses and Records

Formula Student

See also

References