Mx-5

[YellowFlash]

i think u watch too many initial D? , right now the debate is understeer and oversteer, not RWD or AWD. For your info AWD tends to understeer.

 

Understeer is safer than oversteer. If the car understeers, and no correction is made the result is a wider corner than intended, but the car remains stable. If the car oversteers, the turn made has smaller radius than intended. The smaller radius produces higher cornering forces bring the required traction even closer to the limit of the rear wheels, and thus causing even more oversteer. The situation becomes worse until the rear wheels lose grip completely; the car spins and all directional control is lost.

 

Do some reading up on the net, try to search for understeer and oversteer, u'll find out whether what i said is correct.

Edited May 19, 2006 by Isaac85

[YellowFlash]

a little abstract from "http://www.miracerros.com/mustang/sway3.htm"

 

A little theory:

 

There are a lot of different dynamics that cause under- or oversteer; the front-to-rear weight bias of the car, the presence or absence of anti-sway bar(s), which wheels are doing the work of accelerating the car, and even the size and type of tires.

 

Most cars come from the factory with a bias towards understeer. That's because it's generally thought that understeer is easier for the average driver to cope with than oversteer, which is probably true. The instinctual reaction for a driver in a sliding car is to lift off the throttle and hit the brakes, which will transfer weight to the front end and increase traction there, helping an understeering car to recover control. Doing the same thing in a car that's oversteering will usually make the situation worse by unloading the rear tires and further reducing their traction.

 

For this reason, you'll almost never see a factory-stock car with a rear anti-roll bar, but no bar on the front. Without getting into a lot of advanced car dynamics, I'll just say that putting a "swaybar" or anti-roll bar on one end of the car (or replacing an existing one with a stiffer bar) will tend to give the opposite end of the car more traction. Thus, most cars come equipped with a front bar but none in the rear, or if they have both, the front bar will be considerably stiffer. This preserves the tendency to "safely" understeer once the limits of handling are reached.

 

It's possible for a vehicle to exhibit both understeer and oversteer at different times. A classic example of this is the first-generation Porsche 911 Turbo. With the weight of the engine over the back axle, a big tire size difference front-to-rear, and an engine that produces a sudden hit of power when the turbo spools up, the old 911 Turbos were notorious for their evil handling characteristics, going from power-off understeer to power-on oversteer at the speed of thought. Porsche has managed to breed these traits out of the newer 911's through careful chassis tuning, redistribution of weight, and the adoption of an all-wheel-drive system for the newest Turbos.

[Elfenstar]

ok. understeer is better for less technical drivers because all u do is try and slow the car down gently till it corrects itself (i.e. driver cant control the direction the car moves). Oversteer on the other hand is what i prefer as i can actively control my slide/skid etc (i.e. the driver can control the direction of travel).

 

As for AWD having understeering char, that wrong too. The wheel bias on an awd system determines which char is more prevalent. For e.g front wheel biased AWD's like the WRX, Evo, GTiR etc have more understeering char as the power is meant to be transfered to the front wheels. cars like the GTR, GTO, 911 etc are rear wheel biased so they have more oversteer tendancies.

 

Generally speaking oversteer is better because the vehicle can still be controlled while oversteering. Thats why most sports vehicles that actually do well on the track have slight oversteer dialed in to their suspension systems (i.e. why the best handlings cars are all rear wheel biased as well. WRC is different as the changing and sometims bumpy terrain means AWD is a must. In fact WRC is the only motorsport event that utilises AWD.

[YellowFlash]

, u get wat i mean and i also understand wat u r trying to say.

[Rayoflight]

 

 

[Wyv9]

LOL... Perhaps I don't read up as much.

 

I have driven both FWD and RWD. What I have said are based on my personal experiences. As for AWD, no personal experience yet.

[YellowFlash]

no worries, we're all here to learn and im still learning each day