Ideally, when you turn the steering wheel, your front and rear tires will turn at a consistent rate. This will be the case so long as you are below the traction limit of your tires. But what happens when you exceed the traction limits of your tires? This is where Understeer, Oversteer, and Drifting come into play. Read the rest of this entry »
You’re probably wondering why we would write a whole section on accelerating out of a turn. After all, don’t you just get on the gas at the end of a corner? Driving on the street, yes, that’s all you do and its pretty straightforward. But when you are driving at the limit, things become a little bit more involved. Read the rest of this entry »
So you like snow driving, rallycrossing, or just oodles of oversteer — front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, or all wheel drive, have I got something for you.
If you’ve been practicing simple oversteer in the snow for a while, you’re probably ready to graduate to more complicated techniques. A pendulum turn is a technique for rotating a car quickly through a hairpin so that you can power out of the corner as quickly as possible. All three drive types will start a pendulum the same way (more on special FWD, RWD, and AWD tricks later):
Pick an area with a lot of room and a consistent snow-covered surface
Begin by developing some speed — at least 20-30mph
To pendulum, lift off the throttle or start braking lightly in a straight line to load up the front tires and unload the rears
Turn the wheel slightly to the right. If you are slowing correctly and have enough forward speed this should result in a little oversteer
Countersteer left to keep the nose of the car traveling in the original direction as the tail swings out
As the car stops rotating to the right, turn the wheel a bit further to the left, still slowing
If you executed this correctly and carried enough momentum, the car will snap around to the left (try for 180 degrees)
Apply power and accelerate away in the direction you came from
It snowed in our area today. It snowed quite a bit. So, while everyone else was hiding inside, we obviously went out to drive. By the time we were done, we had lost 2 tires, ruined 3 wheels, bent one suspension arm, and decommissioned 3 cars. Usually we have our way with snowstorms, but this one kicked our asses.
It started off very well. We went to several of our…ahem…privately-owned and closed driving areas to film some pendulum slides, drifts, and other cool things. Then we began to entertain the various snow-removing beasts that happen to populate our private driving areas by threading between guardrails and barriers, looping around lightpoles, and being generally sideways.
I was proving a point to somebody in an argument, and we got sidetracked and googled “running an engine with no oil” (I was hoping to prove you could go for a surprisingly long time without oil) and came across this article from the Chicago Sun Times. I thought it was funny enough to warrant sharing:
I do most of the light maintenance on my vehicle, and I’ve added a step in my oil changes that I think is beneficial in the long run. Here’s what I do: I drain the warm, dirty oil, just like everybody else. Then I add this step: With the drain plug still out, I start the engine and let it idle for about a minute. I usually manage to get an extra cup or so of oil purged from the oil pump and related plumbing. My question is: Am I doing more harm than good? I change the oil every 5,000 miles, and I figure the more dirty oil I can remove when changing the oil, the better. — Ken
All of your actions while driving a car at the limit are dictated by the limits of your tires, and the limits of your tires are represented by The Friction Circle. The Friction Circle is a way of looking at how inputs interact with the maximum amount of grip of your tires.
The Limits of Grip
As you know, there is a set amount of grip for any given tire. The limits of grip are easy to ascertain and comprehend when you are doing one thing. Give your car too much gas and the wheels will spin. Brake too hard and you will lock up the wheels. Turn too aggressively and your tires will slip. But what happens when you do more than one thing at a time? Say, give your car gas while cornering? Read the rest of this entry »
The weather looks like its going to be great for sliding. Its about time, this season has been almost snow free in New England. To help get in the spirit, I dug up this random video clip from last year’s snow games.
Well, we don’t just do VR-4s. On Sunday Chris and I competed in our first ice race using our Mazda Protege beaters. (I would have considered using my VR-4, but it exceeds the maximum weight.) The races are organized by the Adirondack Motor Enthusiast Club and are held on well-frozen lakes in upstate New York from January to March. There was a late start this year because of the warm weather. This particular race was held at Lake Algonquin in the small town of Wells, NY (the residents seemed quite amused by our presence). Ice racing is indeed a unique sport, and it attracts unique cars and personalities.
How to make your leaky stock 3000GT/Stealth blow off valve (BOV) seal in five minutes for a couple bucks:
Before you go spend hundreds of dollars on a shiny aftermarket blow off valve for your VR-4 that isn’t going to help you much anyhow, consider this quick hack that will keep your factory BOV from leaking. It takes about five minutes and is virtually free!
Earlier today I met up with somebody on a local web forum to drive their AEM-equipped 3000GT VR4 to help diagnose a steering problem. Going into my first corner I noticed their wideband reading too rich for for their sensor to pick up. The car was alternating between spitting fireballs and attempting to stall.
The problem? In tuning their VR4 they had never tried engine braking near redline and their tune didn’t have any correction for it. Ten minutes later, everythingw as adjusted and the car felt as smooth as a 3/S with an AEM should feel. So, lesson learned: When tuning your car’s ECU, it might be helpful to let somebody else drive your car to find any holes in your driving style!
