understeer-oversteer
Lawrence C Leung
l.leung at juno.com
Thu Nov 16 23:17:56 EST 2000
Well put Patrick. I concur. Learned soooo much in 15 years of Auto-X'ing.
Some of what I've learned has probably saved my life.
LL - NY
On Thu, 16 Nov 2000 12:28:23 -0600 "Patrick Washburn"
<washburn at dwave.net> writes:
>Very simply:
>
>Understeer - A tendency for your car to "push" or "plow" when turning.
>
>Imagine driving on ice, and when you turn the wheel the car wants to
>continue going straight. It isn't turning enough, or
>"understeering".
>
>Oversteer - The opposite tendency for the car to turn too much,
>usually
>causing the rear end to feel like it will come around in a spin.
>(Which it
>will often do!)
>
>Nuetral - The moving target we all try to acheive. Usually a nuetral
>car
>is reffered to as being one that you are able to readily control the
>over/under steer. Not that is always steers nuetrally.
>
>There are too many variables affecting these handling traits to go
>into,
>but one important aspect is the front/rear weight transfer at any
>given
>time. Cars do not *always* under or over steer...it depends on the
>attitude of the car at the moment in terms of front and rear weight
>transfer caused by either accelerating or decelerating. A normally
>understeering car can be induced to oversteer by braking heavily past
>the
>point where you started your turn (trailbraking). The additional
>weight on
>the front tires will create better grip, making it turn better. Get
>ready
>though...immediatly following this will usually be an abrupt and
>difficult
>to control transition to heavy oversteer. WooHoo! Can you say spin?
>
>Another note: Tire pressures can have a surprisingly strong influence
>on
>your car's characteristics. Check those tire pressures folks!
>
>The absolute best way to learn these things is to go autocrossing,
>IMO.
>
>Pat Washburn
>88 5KCSTQW
>95 Neon DS #26 - SCCA Solo2 "The Cow Car"
>
>
>> Would someone please explain understeer and oversteer to me.
>I have
>an
>> idea but would like to know more.
>>
>> Rotax
>>
>>
>
>Patrick Washburn
>C-Tech Trailor Cabinets
>Wausau, WI
>www.racecabinet.com
>-
>Sent using WaveMail, a web-based e-mail client.
>http://www.dwave.net
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