|
|<...>
|
|>>But my question... uh, what the hell are "ramp angles"?!? I seem to
|>>have them working for me, but I don't know what they are! I've assumed
|>>they somehow set the amount of difference allowed between two wheel's
|>>rotation. But an explanation would be nice...
|>
|>They determine how fast the clutches are activated (probably all
|>analog business here; meaning they are not either on or off).
|>The first angle is for acceleration, the 2nd angle for deceleration.
|>The higher the angle value, the quicker the clutches are put to use.
|
|Hmmm... I think I need to go back a bit here. "Clutch" to me means the
|mechanism that controls the conection between the engine and the
|drive-shaft- controled by the driver with the far-right foot pedal.
|
|But I may have missed the information boat here! Are we talking about
|friction devices somewhere further down the line (and not controlled
|by the driver's foot)?
|
|>>And while I'm asking... number of clutches... what good does that do
|>>me? and what is that other differential setting I can make?
|>
|>The more clutches, the sooner both wheels are locked together to avoid
|>spinning just 1 tire (2 spinning tires is easier to control when the
|>car wants to break out (?)).
|>
|>The diff ratio is a general ratio which applies to all gears. Sort of
|>like a gear ratio extra factor. 10/31 is the largest (most handy on
|>fast tracks; I mean lots of high speed tracks).
|
|Thank you very much for the explanation. Turns out I might have needed
|more than I thought, though! :-)
What you are calling the clutch is simply the actuator pedal for the
transmission clutch. The actual clutch is a large disc that presses against
some pads that are the continuation of the drive line. (Yah, I know it's
simplified) When the clutch pedal is depressed, the pads are released,
allowing the spindle that sticks out of the back of the engine to spin
without gear-induced drag.
The differential clutch is essentially the same thing. On a regular car (the
kind you use to get from point A to point B) there is NO differential
clutch. They are expensive to build into a car, and if you are outraged by
paying $75 for floor mats, think aboutthe extra coin you'd have to drop for
a performance diff. Some vehicles DO have "posi-track" or some such, but
they are much rarer than the open diffs.
Drive your regular car into mud. Stop. Then apply the throttle. One wheel
will break loose and all your energy goes into that spinning wheel. The
other one doesn't budge. That's because there is NO clutch mechanism in your
differential.
Drive your Lotus into the mud. (Don't try to tell me you've never put it
there!) Stop - preferably shiny side up. Apply the throttle. One wheel will
break loose and start to spin, then the ramp angles in your diff will come
into play. The higher your ramp angles on the "left" side of the setup page,
the more quickly your clutch will start to bind the left wheel to the right
one until both are locked together. Both rear wheels now have traction and
poof! you're out of the mud. As soon as the torque applied to the rear
wheels is lessened (say by the car popping onto the road and increasing in
speed while the throttle remains constant) the right-hand ramp angle numbers
take effect. These control how quickly the diff unspools and you have
independent L & R wheels again.
Try it in real life with your car and a (gullible) friend's car (IF he has a
performance diff).
If I'm wrong on any of this, I'm simply going to say it's April Fool's Day,
and remain silent.
Mikey
Avetikus Racing