Driving upside-down in a circular track

TL;DR

This paper explores the physics and feasibility of a racecar driving upside-down on a specially designed banked circular track with over 90 degrees of banking, including experimental validation with a toy car.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of an inverted track with over 90° banking and demonstrates a toy car performing upside-down circulation, analyzing real racecar feasibility.

Findings

Toy car successfully circulated upside-down on the track.

Analysis of velocity and safety considerations for real racecars.

Inclusion of aerodynamic down-force effects in the dynamics.

Abstract

In this article, we point out an interesting solution for the dynamics of a racecar in a banked circular track with banking angle well over 90o. We call this track configuration an Inverted Track, at which a racecar can drive partially upside-down. We show an experimental setup where we made a toy car to circulate upside-down held only by its friction to the track. We discuss the viability to perform the abovementioned stunt with a real racecar in terms of the velocities required, dimensions of the track and safety; provided a passionate motorsport related company to commission it. For most racecars, the aerodynamic down-force is significant and it is included in our analysis.