Beyond the ideal car.
A 6-week online course on tyre lag and pressure, suspension compliance, non-linear springs and dampers, transient load transfer, and sensitivity analysis. The details that can make your car even faster.
Enrol nowSounds familiar?
You already know how the car works. You have read Milliken and understand most of it, and you have built a Yaw Moment Diagram. You know about lateral load transfer split, roll stiffness distribution, spring and damper selection, and limited slip differentials and their effect on understeer. You understand the steady states of the car, and better than that, the changes work the way you expect when you make them.
You also know there are more topics out there, the details that fundamental models leave out to keep them simple and solvable on paper. Tyres losing stiffness near the limit, tyre lag, the change in geometry from bushing deflection, the non-linear springs and dampers. These models leaves them out on purpose, and for steady state that is right. What is left over has to be solved in time, and in each wheel on its own.
You know they exist, but you have not gone deeper into them. The topics look scattered and unrelated. You even know where to study them, but when you have tried, it is either too much at once, or you don't know where to start. You don't have the weeks it takes to study them and turn them into something useful.
What changes after 6 weeks
• You'll understand how tyre lag, suspension compliance and non-linear springs and dampers change the performance of the car.
• You'll know what bottoming, full extension and wheel lift do to the car, how to set preload and sag for what you need, and in which manoeuvres damping actually works.
• You'll design the compliance of the suspension to favour car performance.
• You'll describe performance in time, not only at equilibrium points.
• You'll know how much each design change moves each of those numbers, before you touch the car
• You'll open a vehicle dynamics book at the non-linear and transient chapters and follow them.
What you'll learn
Tyres
Brush model fundamentals, saturation, relaxation length and tyre lag. Determination of tyre pressure for grip and carcass stiffness. Magic Formula in brief.
Load at Every Wheel
From axles to four separate wheels. Aeromap, bushing compliance, chassis torsion, tyre utilisation, and the understeer budget in deg/g.
Yaw Response
How fast the car answers the wheel. State space bicycle model, frequency response, tyre lag, gain, peak response time and damping.
Non-linear Vertical Dynamics
Progressive springs, bump stops, wheel lift, preload, sag, progressive-digressive damping, stiction.
Transient Load Transfer
From steering input to steady state. Force development including tyre lag, compliance and damping. Braking/throtling in corner.
Sensitivity Analysis
How much each design change moves the car's performance.
Who is this for
For:
• Race engineers who already design setups, and want the details that steady state models leave out.
• Advanced FSAE students and engineers with the fundamentals (or completed Course 2), ready to take on the non-linear car.
• OEM engineers who know transient and non-linear models but never connected them to setup decisions on a race car.
NOT for:
• People without a foundation in vehicle dynamics. Start with Course 1.
• People without an understanding of the steady state of a car in cornering. Go to Course 2.
• Engineers looking for a software tutorial or a lap sim course.
• Anyone expecting to become a race engineer in 6 weeks.
About the instructor
I'm Felipe Vasquez. I hold a PhD in vehicle dynamics from the University of Southampton, with peer-reviewed research on suspension optimisation and tyre force estimation. I taught Vehicle Dynamics, Dynamics, and Machine Design at the University of Concepción for five years, working with FSAE-style student projects and industry data from KTM and Kawasaki. I race actively in touring cars and motocross, which means the physics I teach is also the physics I feel on track. I teach the phenomena behind vehicle behaviour with the simplest possible models, so you can use them to think about your car, not just guess or wait for simulations.
What you get
• 6 live sessions of ~1.75 hours each, covering the suspended car and how it modulates the yaw moment.
• 6 sets of exercises to solve by hand, designed to help you internalise the concepts.
• 2 live Q&A sessions to discuss your questions and go deeper into specific topics.
• A private WhatsApp group for the cohort, where you can ask questions between sessions, share resources, and connect with other engineers from around the world.
• Access to recordings of every session so you can revisit at your own pace, available for one month after the course ends.
When/how?
• One session every Wednesday
• 12:00 h New York, 18:00 h Central Europe, 21:30 h India
• Starts Wednesday, September 2, 2026
• Q&A: September 21, October 19, 18:00 h Central Europe
Enrol now
• Limited to 20 seats, so I can give each student proper attention during Q&A.
$427
$427
early bird until 27 August.
Guarantee
Complete every session, do every exercise, attend the Q&A calls. If after all that your understanding of vehicle behaviour hasn't changed, I'll refund you in full. No questions asked.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need an engineering degree?
Not technically, I don't ask for it, but you need to be comfortable working with free body diagrams and university level maths.
How is this different from reading Milliken or Gillespie?
Books aren't designed to teach, they don't answer your doubts, they're designed to be a reference. They cover everything with the same weight, and leave you to figure out the order. This course tells you which concepts matter and how they connect. After it, you'll be able to open those books and understand enough to keep going on your own.
What if I've already read these books and taken online courses?
Then you've probably seen most of these concepts in isolation. The value of this course isn't in the concepts themselves, it's in the order and connection between them. If you've already read everything and nothing clicks, this is exactly the course for you.
How much time do I need to commit per week?
Two hours per week for the live session, plus around two to three hours on the exercises. The exercises are where the real learning happens, so I recommend not skipping them. If you can dedicate around five hours per week, you'll get everything out of the course.
Is there any way to interact with other students?
Yes. Every cohort has a private WhatsApp group where you can ask questions between sessions, share things you've found, and stay in touch with other engineers from different countries and categories. It often ends up being one of the most valuable parts of the experience.
Who reviews the exercises?
You review them yourself, against the solutions I provide. The exercises are designed for active application, not for grading. If you get stuck on a specific exercise or don't understand a step of the solution, you can bring it to the Q&A sessions and we work through it together.
What if I can't attend live?
Every session is recorded and available within 24 hours. You can watch at your own pace. The live sessions are where the conversation and Q&A happen, so attending live helps, but the material is all there for you either way.
I'm in a different time zone, can I still benefit?
Yes. The recordings are the main path for anyone in a distant time zone. For the two Q&A sessions, if you can't attend live, you can send your questions ahead of time through the cohort's WhatsApp group and I'll address them during the session. You'll see the recording after, with your question answered in context. The WhatsApp group itself is async, so you can participate on your own time.
How long do I have access to the course?
You keep access to the recordings and can download the exercises for one month after the course ends. That gives you time to revisit concepts, redo exercises, and use the material during your next season or project.
Do I need my own car or data to get value out of this?
No. The course is about the physics, not about a specific dataset. If you don't have your own car or data, you'll still learn everything the course teaches. If you do have access to a car or telemetry, you'll come out with a sharper eye for what you're looking at.
Is this about a specific car or category?
No. The physics in this course applies to any car with four wheels, regardless of category. I teach the fundamentals, not the specifics of any formula or championship.
Will I learn to use simulation software?
No. This course is about the physics you need to understand before using any software. Simulation tools don't teach you vehicle dynamics, they assume you already know it.
Will this help me in interviews or on the job?
I can't promise an interview result, but I can say what this course actually changes. When someone on the team talks about almost any aspect of the suspension, you'll understand what they mean and be able to contribute. When an interviewer asks you how the ARB affects understeer, you'll be able to explain the physics, not "just because". That's the kind of difference this course makes.
What happens after Course 3?
Course 4 will give the fundamentals of lap time simulation, in terms of steady states sequences, so you can build one yourself