10ths......Was: Re: Torsens, UFOs and God...

[Michael Williams <daserde@ucla.edu>]

Jeffrey J. Goggin decided to speak these words:

>Depending upon who you are and where you're driving -- on the street or on a
>racetrack -- your perspective about the relative merits or demerits of a
>Torsen center diff will vary.  What's 7/10ths for me might be 10/10ths for
>you; what's 10/10ths for me might be only 7/10ths for Walter Rohrl ... drive
>below this hard-to-quantify threshold and the Torsen center diff works just
>fine; cross it over it, though, and the "problems" that Scott, myself and
>others have noted WILL eventually make their presence known.

Well, i have wanted to say soemthing about this for a while now, but i 
just havent had the motivation to.  I read a book called i believe "The 
Racing Driver"  I cant remember who it is by, it is in my car, which is 
about 25 miles away.  Anyway the author is an old school racer, talks 
mostly about Sterling Moss and his experiences riding with Moss.  Anyway, 
he writes an entire chapter about 10ths.  He says that most of the time, 
people driving in every day conditions rarely if ever get up to 
6/10ths....7/10ths is a little faster than normal driving, but not 
necessarily pushing it, 8/10ths is pushing it, most likely the fastest 
for street driving, 9/10ths is incredibly fast and pushing the car to 
almost its limits, and is only possibly on the race track.  9.5/10ths is 
the absolute limit for driving and keeping control of the car, that is 
where the lap records and the fast laps come in...only then is the racer 
going the fastest.  Once you pass that 9.5/10ths, you get to 10/10ths, 
and by that point you have lost control of the car and that is it...you 
end up off the side of the road or something...

So, just thought i would share, i might be off slightly for the lower 
numbers, but i remember specifically what he said about 9-10/10ths....

later all...

btw   GREAT BOOK...i will get it and tell you guys the author when i get 
a chance...

Michael Sheridan Williams

My new one: 1985 4000 S Quattro
175,000+ miles, and going like a new car
Well, went like a new car.....right into a guard rail :o(

http://members.aol.com/daserde2