Understeer/Oversteer the causes - Moved from F1 Forum

[thebear]

Another contributing factor is toe (in or out). Too much toe in will also cause oversteer, especially in road cars.

[Greenback]

My understanding of road cars is that RWD cars are more prone to oversteer while FWD tend to understeer. (Is this correct?)

My question is, if the engineer could adjust a F1 car (RWD) to understeer, can we make a FWD road car to oversteer?

[Sultan]

Originally Posted by Greenback

My understanding of road cars is that RWD cars are more prone to oversteer while FWD tend to understeer. (Is this correct?)

My question is, if the engineer could adjust a F1 car (RWD) to understeer, can we make a FWD road car to oversteer?

Depends on the horse power!!

There are so many ways to induce one over the other. Shocks, Springs, weight distribution, chassis stiffness - then you really go silly with tyre pressures, toe in/toe out, camber, castor, corner weights, roll bars, diff settings, engine mapping settings, not to mention the wings!!

But in simple theory, a softer front end will bite, therefore turn in more effectively, a stiffer rear will 'loosen' the rear end effectively turning the car in. However if a car is too soft at the front, it too can induce understeer. Also remember that weight, especially in an open wheeler can play a massive roll in balance - a car set up perfectly on a full tank may not necissarily be any good on low fuel - you could go on for days explaining the details!

One other point to make note is driver preference - Some prefer cars with an initial tendency to understeer, some like to drive with the rear, others like perfectly neutral... Oh brother...

[Marbot]

Most FWD cars have trouble putting more than a couple of hundred horses through the front tyres.Some engineers reckon around 220 as max on a road car.It is all about traction.Even with a good set up FWD can't cope with more than 250.

[Al Weyman]

Originally Posted by martyn bott

Most FWD cars have trouble putting more than a couple of hundred horses through the front tyres.Some engineers reckon around 220 as max on a road car.It is all about traction.Even with a good set up FWD can't cope with more than 250.

Don't tell that to Vauxhall

[RED21]

Or me..........

[johnny yuma]

MOST fwd cars which race are relatively short wheelbase, which limits oversteer tendencies. All the heavy mechanical bits are at the wrong end of the"pendulum" for oversteer to kick in as speeds rise as in an old VW or Porsche rear engine-RWD.Artificially inducing oversteer would probably bring slower lap times.FWD is flawed as a race layout but can be very effective UP TO A POINT...

[Simon Mason]

You can induce almost any car into understeer or oversteer it all depends on when you want it and what for.

FWD can be way more oversteery than RWD in certain circumstances, like wise understeer can be a real problem in a RWD. The problem most people have with these issues is not the car itself, its actually their understanding of how they are making the car respond in the first place.

Only then can you adjust to set up to compensate.

[ss_collins]

this should be in racing technology

[luke]

Originally Posted by ss_collins

this should be in racing technology

What how a car handles and a driver drives a car? More racers forum or even F1 forum related then racing tech which is about car technolgy, enigineering etc, imo.