From: Eric Buckley <ejbuckley@earthlink.net>
>Quick! Get a bigger front anti-roll bar before the rest of this list makes
>it illegal!
>
>Seriously, most RWD cars are loose
If that were only true. Most front-engine/rear-drive cars in stock form
plow like farmers. In my experience, RX-7 cars are a happy exception. The
engine sits well back and the overall mass distribution is pretty good.
You may be confusing conventional oversteer with wheelspin oversteer.
Overcoming understeer by spinning the wheels is not really balanced
handling.
>On many (but not all) courses being loose is a good thing.
Yes, indeed.
>You
>should see what us FWD guys do to get the car to rotate.
>
Been there, done that.
>If it's really a problem, a bigger front bar would help transfer more
weight
>up front
What a bigger front bar really does is allows the rear tires to share with
each other better and makes the front tires share with each other less. If
you really DO have an oversteering RWD car, a bigger front bar is a big win.
It not only changes your balance, but lessons the spinning of your inside
rear wheel.
This is why most well-set-up cars with rear mass bias don't need a
limited-slip differential. In fact, the low-speed handling of my Lotus was
ruined by an LSD unit. Since I largely disabled the LSD with a
friction-reducer, it handles much better, and I do not have any problems
with wheelspin. Kids, don't try this with your Boss 429.
Phil Ethier Saint Paul Minnesota USA
1970 Lotus Europa, 1992 Saturn SL2, 1986 Chev Suburban
LOON, MAC pethier@isd.net http://www.mnautox.com/
"If I can do it, it's not art" - Red Green
|