John
It's already a rule. It's under 4.D Automobile pg.35 of the rule book.
steering must be assured by at least (2) two front wheels.
Glen
----- Original Message -----
From: John Beckett
To: Glen Barrett ; Jim Dincau ; DrMayf
Cc: Land Speed List
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2003 1:55 PM
Subject: Rear Wheel Steering
List,
OK, first of all I would like to quiz the audience as to how many have
actually built and run a RWS car besides Bucky, Richard Nobel and myself?
Second just cause I didn't make it work doesn't mean someone else can't, but
I got to tell ya I don't see it happening. I love the innovation that comes
with this sport. One of the big features that draws me to LSR.
So having said that ya'll can speculate all you want, but somebody needs to
step up cut through the BS that abounds right now and build one that works.
Mine was a failure, at least the RWS part, but after my own experience I don't
see anyone making it work. So prove me wrong don't just talk about it.
The car I built was a Modified Roadster, in '97 I believe. I had two
concepts that fostered my decision to go with RWS.
1) I felt at the time that FWD would be a better way to go at Bonneville
(and may well still be).
2) And with my limited machining ability I chose RWS for what I thought
would be ease of construction.
The car was about 150" WB. Chassis squared. Standard /MR width. The driver
sat in the normal /MR position. Used Frontrunner tires. It was a beautiful car
that did not work.
I tried slow all the way to extremely slow steering. Camber around 0 deg.
Caster, well everything from 15 deg + to 5 deg neg. Toe, tried both in and
out. Not a whole lot of difference no matter what settings I tried.
It ran good to 60 MPH. Marginally manageable to 80 MPH. and absolutely a
bear after that. Was clocked at 88 MPH at Maxton, and may have hit 100 MPH at
Bonneville, but spun it out well before I got to the clocks.
I can't emphasize enough that it didn't work. I spent a ton of hours
building this thing and even more to test and modify, and it still didn't
work.
It's not a safety issue. It won't go fast enough to be a safety issue. So I
don't believe SCTA needs to define a car as front steering only. However it's
only a project for someone who is focused on RWS and can devote the time and
money, as Richard N. did, to make it work. Bucky's wasn't any more proven than
mine.
John Beckett
#79, D/GCC
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