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Old 03-27-2008, 01:38 AM   #13
Mindz
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Good53X View Post
50/50 weight distribution should (technically) remove understeer/oversteer.

Understeer is caused by the front end tracking wide, causing the car to turn wide of the projected path.

Oversteer is caused by the rear end tracking wide, causing the car to turn inside of the projected path.

Understeer is generally corrected by letting up on the throttle or 'powering over" and steering against the direction the vehicle is travelling, which is hard on CVs (in FWD). In RWD understeer is less common but more devastating because you have no control over the direction your car takes - braking is the only option. This is one reason why RWD vehicles are so difficult to control in snow.

Oversteer is generally corrected by countersteering, and this is used in drifting to the great pleasure of many. However in race terms it's ineffective use of momentum and causes a loss of overall velocity - you're better off entering the turn at a lower speed and powering through it, exiting at a higher speed unless the corner is outrageously sharp. In FWD oversteer is doubly rare because you don't have power to the rear and thus seldom maintain loss of traction at the rear wheels for long.

With 50/50 the front and rear of the vehicle will share equal inertia going into a turn causing the vehicle to (actually) drift sideways evenly tangent to the projected path, maintaining direction, velocity and control over the vehicle.

Which is why the Silvia/240sx is one of the most common cars used in drifting events. It's either 49/51 or 50/50 balanced.
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