> Question remains... how do you drive one of these things?? -Do you provoke
> the slide or just let it happen "naturally" from going in a little too hot??
> And... how do you keep it going all the way round the turn? -I just can't
> figure it out!
> Jan.
Jan,
It's difficult to explain, and even more difficult to do consistently, but I'll
give it a try. I'm no expert, and I've only done it in real life on
motorcycles, but the technique is pretty straightforward. One thing that may be
working you up is the steering ratio in the demo -- it's set to 40.1 degrees,
which, though you certainly need quick steering, is set way too high for me.
Try to picture yourself driving in a parking lot with hard-packed snow. If you
try to turn a car that is going too fast for the arc you've chosen, you'll
simply plow ahead. If you feed in some throttle, the rear end will swing around
and start propelling the car in a tangent to your original line. This does two
things. First, it slows the car. Second, it alters the direction of the car.
If you back the throttle off so that you maintain that angle, the car will
travel in a more or less straight line and at an angle that is more than your
original line but less than the angle formed by your car and your original
line. Basic stuff.
My technique for entering a turn is to roll off the throttle to the point where
I'm going to maintain my slide, and to use the steering to induce the necessary
oversteer. You can jump off the throttle and use less steering to get the
oversteer, I find it slows the car too much but for me it's harder to find that
throttle "sweet spot" and consequently I find it harder to be consistent and
smooth.
The trick in dirt track racing is to maintain the best slip angle AND maximum
traction of the powered (rear) wheels. If you feed in too much throttle your
rear wheels will break traction and the rear end will start to come around. If
you correct with steering input alone, the car will lose forward speed and
either maintain sideways motion, or worse, slow down. The whole idea is, with
subtle steering input and throttle control, to maintain maximum FORWARD motion
consistent with the line you're trying to maintain.
As you said, the sound kind of makes keeping track of subtleties in your engine
speed, but you do have the tach to watch. If you see your engine maxxing out
the tach, you know you're not getting the forward speed you need to come
squirting out of the turn. That transition from turn to straight, where you
feed in the throttle to maximum and straighten the car out with steering input
is really crucial to fast lap times. Do it too qickly and you loop. Do it too
slowly and you get passed.
One thing. Folks on this NG have scoffed and said that they can maintain full
throttle all around every track. If you're doing this, you're not going to win
against really competent drivers (And I'm not one of them.). If you can do
that, you need to drop down a gear so that you have the capability to break the
rear wheels loose at any point in the turn. At no point during your slide
should your rear wheels have full traction, because that means you're
oscillating between slide and full, straight-line motion.
I know I didn't explain this very well, but I hope it helps some.
--
Bob Curtin
Worcester Area Strategy & Tactics Exchange
http://www.tiac.net/users/ten10ths/
"If God had intended men to join the Army he would have given us green, baggy
skin"
