[s-cars] steering

[Varon H. Fugman]

I remember hearing a quote from a famous race car driver (don't remember
who) that was something along these lines:

"Understeer is when the front of your car hits the wall, and oversteer is
when the rear of your car hits the wall."

Varon
'95 urS6 neither understeering nor oversteering while waiting for fuel leak
repair

P.S. OK, I can't leave it at that... understeer is when the car doesn't turn
as sharply as the front wheels are pointing, i.e. the front plows wide.
Oversteer is when the rear swings around causing the car to point in a
direction much more sharply than intended.

Most cars, and especialy front wheel drive cars tend to understeer at the
limit, and this is considered safest for the average driver.  Backing off
the throttle a little  usually allows the car to come back to the desired
line.

Rear wheel drive cars, especially high performance cars, are more likley to
oversteer, especialy when too much power is applied during a turn.
Desireable for sporty driving, but requires more driver skill.

Then there is the Audi quattro, which most of the time keeps such a good
grip on the road that you don't encounter either condition.  But if you give
it enough power in slippery conditions to break traction, you could get
either understeer or oversteer depending on which way the Torsen center
differential is biasing the torque.  Most northern urS-car owners delight in
playing in the snow!

-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-admin at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-admin at audifans.com]On Behalf Of Twobro12 at aol.com
Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2003 9:17 PM
To: s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: [s-cars] steering


hey, I'm young and don't have a lot of knowledge with car terms.  I'm sorry
if i sound stupid, but i was just wondering what the difference between
understeer and oversteer is (what does it mean?). thanks, and sorry for
wasting your time.   MIKE 94' S4
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