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      09-16-2011, 05:14 PM   #12
italy430
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Drives: E46 2000 328i
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Vancouver, BC

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Quote:
Originally Posted by DOUT View Post
The stuttering sound of the front tires losing mechanical adhesion/friction to the track is characteristic of understeer. In addition to that, watching the car's weight shift itself over is a visual that can be associated with understeer.

Understeer feels different than oversteer, that is a given. But any mildly experienced driver is able to decipher the difference between understeer and oversteer from the sound itself. Go try driving on a track sometime soon, its a much different experience than just watching videos of people on the Nürburgring from your armchair.

Cheers!
I don't have a nice way to say this so I'll try to be professional. You are incorrect.

Quote:
watching the car's weight shift itself over is a visual that can be associated with understeer
That's incorrect. The weight shift has to do with the momentum of the car changing. Momentum is a vector quantity and, therefore, a change in direction constitutes a change in momentum. The bottom of the car (wheels) are applying a force on the road which is changing the direction of the car when it goes around a corner and, therefore, changing the momentum of the car. The reason the car will experience a "weight shift" is because the inertia of the top of the car wants to keep going in the direction it was going before the wheels were turned to go around the corner. The weight of the top of the car and the distance (height of the car) from the bottom of the car will determine how much torque will be applied. Obviously a stiff suspension will be able to handle that kind of torque better and will exhibit flatter cornering. Now you can go around a corner, aka. change your momentum, by either understeering or oversteering in the corner. The direction change of the vehicle can come from either oversteer OR understeer. YOU CAN NOT TELL IF A VEHICLE IS UNDERSTEERING FROM LISTENING TO THE SOUND!!! I'd really like to make that clear.

You cannot tell from listening to the sound. That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard.

Quote:
Go try driving on a track sometime soon, its a much different experience than just watching videos of people on the Nürburgring from your armchair.
Thanks for the advice. Now, can you take your own advice?

EDIT: Another little thought... the weight shift will go in the same direction, regardless of understeer or oversteer. I hope you can figure out why that happens.

Last edited by italy430; 09-16-2011 at 05:20 PM..
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