In a message dated 97-08-17 16:26:19 EDT, you write:
> On a related note, I recently inflated each of my four tires to 36 psi,
> rather than the 32 front/37 rear I had been using. Oddly enough, this
> setting seems to have increased oversteer a bit, which is not what I
> expected. My suspension is completely stock, with the exception of GT
> springs in the rear.
Todd:
This is not at all unexpected. When you changed the tire pressure, you
improved the grip of the front by the addition of 4 psi, while you decreased
the grip of the rear by the reduction of one psi.
Reduced traction at the front produces increased understeer, reduced traction
at the rear produces increased oversteer. And conversely.
If you draw a curve of grip vs tire pressure, you will find that the grip
goes up fairly fast as you increase pressure, up to the peak value. The grip
drops off fairly slowly as you increase pressure beyond the peak, or optimum,
value. Evidently, you have not yet reached that peak at either end.
Many years ago, I used to hang out with the showroom stock class SCCA racers
from the Knoxville area (I was a free lance photographer, providing video
coverage for a local TV station). I was quite surprised to see how much
pressure they used at the track.
Dan Masters,
Alcoa, TN
'71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
'71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
http://www.sky.net/~boballen/mg/Masters/
'74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition
'68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
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