Derek Butts wrote:
> I have driven this van before. We used to have one as a parts van. If
> autocrossed it will end up like an upside down turtle....
Um, doesn't the driver have something to do with this?
Bill Hamburgen finished 157 out of 182 on July 13th,
1996 in a '91 Toyota Previa at SFR Round 10. Bill moved
from stock class to DSP in his VW GTI because it was
becoming too prone to roll over.
On the subject of SUV's, they typically roll over on the
second hard transition. Driver swerves to avoid an
accident, body rolls, suspension compresses, driver
reverses direction just as suspension uncompresses
and overshoots the original lane. Just as oscillating
suspension uncompresses again, driver reverses
direction again and vehicle rolls. Sort of like getting
way behind in a slalom and refusing to give it up.
The problem with SUVs isn't their high COGs as much
as it is the long travel of their suspensions.
Frankly, until I installed a strut bar to eliminate
chassis tower flex, I found it took 10 times more skill
to keep from rolling my Lotus Elan on sticky tires
while autocrossing than to keep from rolling my
Jeep Cherokee on the street. My first event in the
Elan happened to be a 3Com event where
Rick drove his Grand Cherokee. He beat me.
I was proud of not killing the timing slip person
or taking out the trailer when I discovered the
Elan could not be stopped in anything but a
perfectly straight line.
I doubt if Carl is as likely to roll the Previa as
most any rookie moving up to R tires. It's up
to the event chair and safety steward whether
he can run or not. All that said, I agree with
John and Charlie that it is a poor choice as
an autocross vehicle.
Rich Urschel
PS. Ever see the video of the BMW test driver
"proving" it was impossible to roll a 525i Touring?
Front tire rolled under and over it went. Give
up the run when you get in trouble and you will
be much safer.
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