[DeTomaso] <detomaso at realbig.com>Re: Oversteer/Understeer

[Gray Gregory]

You got it. This will also work at almost any point (prior to actually hitting something) whereas even if the driver knows how to properly catch and over-steer he must react pretty fast or the car will spin anyway.

That's why almost every road car is set up to under-steer.


-----Original Message-----
From: Mark McWhinney [mailto:msm at portata.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 12:46 PM
To: Gray Gregory; 'Göran Malmberg'; detomaso at realbig.com
Subject: RE: [DeTomaso] <detomaso at realbig.com>Re: Oversteer/Understeer

>> For safety reasons I think the manufacturers prefer a road car that is
set up to under-steer from your lateral acceleration standpoint because the
driver input required to correct for under-steer is to simply add more
steering input and reduce speed. This is more intuitive for the average
driver and thus less likely to end in an accident.


It's human nature to hit the brakes when you carry too much speed into a
curve.  The braking shifts the car's weight toward the front which increases
grip on the front tires and decreases grip at the rear.  In an under-steer
situation, braking decreases under-steer, so under-steer tends to be a
self-correcting problem even without steering inputs.  In an over-steer
situation, braking adds more over-steer causing a snap spin to the inside of
the curve where there is on-coming traffic.