I know the speeds are dramatically different---but when you are steering a
sailboat with a tiller you learn to pull the rear where you need it to
be---when you use the wheel on the same boat you remember that you have to
drive the bow---the boat does not know the difference---sparky
>
> From: john robinson <john@engr.wisc.edu>
> Date: 2003/09/29 Mon PM 12:10:37 CDT
> To: land-speed@autox.team.net
> Subject: rear steer
>
> the figures for the dymaxion car were not tested numbers,they were, to the
> best of the my readings on the car, "best guess and advertising numbers", I
> thought the top speed somebody wrote about was 90+/- . somewhere I saw a
> film clip of the dymaxion doing circles around a cop, driver not more than
> 4 feet from cops face as they circled ....but he sat ahead of the front
> axle and I think that makes it a lot easier to intuitively steer the RS
> vehicle....and given the obvious aero advantages the dymaxion had over a
> '33 Ford, I think the car should have gone 120.....seems I remember there
> are still a couple of those in existence, one with over 100,000
> miles......http://sts.stanford.edu/dymaxion/map.htm has info on the
> dymaxion. now it does state in the website that the car had serious
> stability problems.....but, nobody drove the thing IMHO, from how I read
> the website anyway.
> and moving the driver to the rear of the car should make driving a rear
> steer a lot harder, due to now instinctive (since 16 yrs old) self training
> on fws cars, but tail steered airplanes learn to rear steer, albeit using
> tailfeathers too.....
>
> John Robinson, Mechanician
> Mechanical Engineering University of Wisconsin
> 1513 University Ave.
> Madison, Wi. 53706
> 608-262-3606
> Current World Land Speed Record Holder
> Bonneville Salt Flats
> H/GCC 92 cu.in. 1980 Dodge Colt
> 144.396 MPH set 2000
> MPS-PG 441 c.c. 1967 BSA Victor Motorcycle
> 95.193 MPH set 2001
> Antarctic Ice Driller Oct02-Jan03
>
>>
"Sparky"
Lakester 2211
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