Black circles

Ten years ago almost to the day, a somewhat fresher-faced version of me was sitting down to her first day of postgraduate classes at Oxford Brookes. I remember walking in early, wired on caffeine but bleary-eyed because of my poor choices the night before, and making my way to the front row of the auditorium.

I didn’t have to wait long until our lecturer walked in. He was wearing a suit and a wonderfully bold rainbow coloured frog tie. His name was Dr James Balkwill and for the next six months he would frequently blow our minds with his knowledge of and passion for vehicle dynamics. In fact, what you will read here today is largely inspired by the handbook he wrote for our class, which is still my go-to chassis bible, having been highlighted and annotated to within an inch of its life.