I am not sure that rear wheel steering is ineffective as you indicate below.
That car used a couple of military jet engines with full afterburners, if I
recall correctly. If the thrust angle is/was off just a smidgen then
steering on either end of the car was likely to have problems. And while
rear steering may be problematic, it should function just as well as front
steer when the driver understands what he/she is doing. Skid control and
turning are counter intuitive and that takes some getting used to. How much
was full lock on the Thrust car? 1 degree? 2 or even 5? So saying lock to
lock is hardly much of a factor because the missile is going straight where
the engines point it and hardly any amount of wheel turn will correct it. It
simply heads off in the direction the engines push it and drags the wheels,
would have happened with front steer also.
mayf
----- Original Message -----
From: "Landspeed Louise Ann Noeth" <landspeedlouise@adelphia.net>
To: "land Speed List" <land-speed@autox.team.net>
Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2003 10:33 PM
Subject: RE: Rear wheel steering
> rear wheel steering is a headache -- it was used on ThrustSSC out of
> necessity, not choice.
>
> When a driver has to input full steering lock at plus 700mph, you know
there
> is a better way, but you make work what you got at the moment.
>
> Driver Andy Green and Mechanical Engineer Glynne Bowshere might very well
> concur and add their own reasons, but you all are trying to adapt a
process
> to non-linear scenario.
>
> this is not the way boys and girls
>
> Speedy Regards,
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