From the June 2017 issue

Over a 26-year career at Lotus, Matt Becker has had a hand in the chassis tuning of approximately 50 vehicles, although he can talk publicly about only a handful of them. The various automakers that contracted Lotus through the years typically paid for both Becker?s expertise and his discretion. The cars he can take credit for?such as the nimble and docile second-gen Lotus Elise and the 2010 Evora?speak to why his talents were in such demand. Becker left Lotus in 2015 for Aston Martin, where he is now the chief of vehicle attribute engineering.
C/D: Is it ever a challenge to determine the tuning philosophy for a particular vehicle"
MB: That?s where some of the art comes in. In my head, I know how I want a car to feel. You need to understand what compromises you are going to make, because ultimately you are going to have to make some compromises. My philosophy is cars don?t need to be uncomfortable to steer and handle well. The other thing for me is the linearity of the response of the car is critical. The first thing I look for is to make sure the rear axle has the right level of connection. Rear-axle stiffness laterally has a massive influence on how a car feels and steers. There?s an old saying, ?If you think it?s the front, it?s the rear. If you think it?s the rear, it?s the rear,? because everything reacts around the rear axle, so it?s absolutely critical to get rear-axle feel correct. Once you?ve got that, the rest of the car will sort ...