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Driving a FWD car.
There are only 2 ways to brake a car... before or before and into a curve.
First some basic differences:
A FWD car will benefit from less traction at lower
speeds then a RWD car because of the backward weight shift.
Thus by definition a FWD car will be a little slower
of the line then a equally powerful RWD car. At speed
there is much less weight transfer, thus the FWD car
has no real disadvantage. At speed however a FWD
car enables you to use power to regain control
as long as you have traction, unlike a RWD car
where you would reduce power to stop the oversteer.
When a RWD car loses traction on a tire in a turn
then it will skid into the turn, which requires you to reduce
power and to counter steer to regain control. Because
of the fact that the rear of the car will skid this
requires quick reactions in most cases, unless you're
on a dry road and get some help from a limited slip
or traction control system. And sure you can power
oversteer most powerful RWD cars, and keep control
over it with practice... nice but inefficient like hell.
In practice a car that does not skid will be quicker
except for passing twitchy hair pins.
When a FWD car loses traction on one tire in a turn
it will start to understeer, but as mostly the wheel
inside the turn starts to skid first, your steering
wheel will have a tendency to turn into the curve,
which by itself again counteracts the understeer under
acceleration, so you will have to steer a bit out of
the curve, but not counter steer if you feel that the
car is turning more into the curve then required.
But beware that at high speeds or during bad weather
this effect will go away
and then the only way to fight understeer is to reduce
speed by lifting the throttle and also by slightly
applying the brakes if need is to transfer some
weight to the front and so that you unload the rear
tires as to turn into the curve. During extreme skids,
depress the clutch and use steering only to regain
control! ( I once entered a hairpin during rain
at 100Mph and using this technique I was able to
rub away my speed, but!!! I was all over that street
and lucky enough there was no traffic!)
FWD can indeed oversteer, this can have various reasons.
a) While you brake or reduce speed and you turn the wheel
in a quick provocative manner, there is a chance that you upset the
rear and that the car oversteer... in such a case counter steer
as needed and apply power as needed, unlike a RWD car
applying power again will help you regain control if
there is no front wheel spin. I use this to pass
tight turns in a rapid way. I approach the turn, and at the
moment where I need to turn into the curve I lift the foot, steer,
counter steer...and apply power again quickly, with some practice it lots of fun.
This would be when you would also brake into a turn, which
I don't need cause I setup my car to have more tendency
to oversteer during forward weight shifts.
b) At high speeds. In order to get the maximum fun to drive
out of a FWD car, you can, using tire pressures make sure
that the rear has less grip then the front under 1-2 passenger
conditions. While this makes it lots of fun to take those
twisty curves at lower speeds, it can produce oversteer at
higher speeds. Should this happen, use counter steer and
power as needed, DO NOT SLAM THE BRAKES as it will make
matters worse! (my car is setup this way... but most
drivers will not enjoy this setup as at high speeds there
is little warning as to when oversteer can occur, but you
notice that very little steering input enables you to
follow the turn, but there are little margins)
During rain or snow... traction will be a problem, thus
the key is to maintain traction to keep control over
your FWD car. If you lose traction it will understeer, which
can go to the point where your car goes straight. Should
that ever happen, release power (on manual you may
also depress the clutch) and steer straight, then apply
power mildly as to use the traction to help you to steer
into the turn, when traction grip is regained, beware
you car will steer into the turn rapidly which may
produce oversteer an instant later, so be ready to
counter steer.
Braking into a turn... well that can be done but
you must be aware that if you do this a FWD car will
have a tendency to understeer, thus you need to aim at
the apex... which is not a safe thing to do on an open
road where you lack visibility. In such a case you
start your braking before the turn, and brake into it,
at the apex you accelerate as much as needed. DO NOT
START your braking when you're already into the turn
with simply too much speed... too late is too late.
Here a FWD car is different from a RWD car as the RWD
car will need to keep power stable or reduce it to
exit/skid the turn properly to be able to accelerate to
a maximum on the straight road. In the FWD car
once you passwd the APEX all you do is to add power.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Coolknight
posted by 212.77....
, Tue, 4 Sep 2001 15:06:00
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